Mining Minister Floyd Green says the Government will adopt a zero-tolerance stance towards companies that delay or evade their legal obligations to rehabilitate exhausted mining pits.

Speaking last week during his post-Sectoral Debate press conference, Green pledged greater environmental stewardship going forward.

“And to show you how serious we are, Alpart (alumina refinery) is not operating now, but because we’ve taken that zero-tolerance approach, they had to start reclamation last year because they had a backlog … and we’ve said to them, ‘It has to be done. It is by law; it should have been done before. Whether you are operational or not, it has to be done’,” he said.