Latrobe coalmines not paying enough for cleanup: Hazelwood fire inquiry

The Victorian government's failure to raise the three mines' rehabilitation bonds would expose taxpayers to a 'significant proportion of the cost' in case of default

The fourth and final report into Victoria's Hazelwood coalmine fire in 2014 has highlighted a looming national problem: the huge cost of rehabilitating mines when they close.

The mine fire inquiry found rehabilitation bonds paid by the three open-cut coalmines in the Latrobe valley, east of Melbourne, were much lower than the real cost of cleaning up the sites if mining operators defaulted on their obligation to do so.