Australian minerals sector contests 'water trigger'

Australian mining's water use, as a share of national consumption, has fallen from 3.9% to 3.7% between 2014/15 and 2015/16, a submission to the Senate Inquiry into water use by the extractives industry has shown. The submission, lodged by the Minerals Council of Australia, New South Wales Minerals Council, Queensland Resources Council, South Australia Chamber of Mines and Energy and Chamber of Mines and Energy Western Australia, shows that between A$111-million and A$127-million of gross value-add was generated for every gigalitre of water that the mining industry used in 2015/16.