Inquiry under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 to change in Ministerial Conditions to allow for the installation and operation of a downstream solids processing plant.
Background: Australian Gold Reagents Pty Ltd (AGR) is a joint venture between Wesfarmers CSBP Limited (CSBP) and Coogee Chemicals Pty Ltd and was formed to manufacture and market sodium cyanide. It is located south-east of CSBP's operations and to the west of Coogee Chemicals. AGR currently operates two liquid sodium cyanide plants at Kwinana, that have the capacity to produce a combined total of 70,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of sodium cyanide (calculated on a 100% sodium cyanide basis) as a 30% solution. There are a number of Ministerial Statements relating to AGR's operation. In October 1987, the Minister for the Environment approved a proposal by AGR to construct a 15,000 tpa sodium cyanide plant at Kwinana and transport the sodium cyanide by rail out of Kwinana to specified rail heads and then by road to mine sites for gold extraction (Ministerial Statement No. 6). AGR obtained approval to construct a duplicate plant in August 1989, to produce a combined total of 30,000 tpa of liquid sodium cyanide (Ministerial Statement No. 73).
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