Charley Gros vividly remembers the excitement of his primary-school classmates near Grenoble, France, when they were taken on an excursion to visit the single, 100-year-old tree left in their region. “For us, it was something amazing.”

As we stood surrounded by massive myrtles, many over 500 years old, in rainforest at the southern edge of Tasmania’s Takayna wilderness, Dr Gros gazed up into their moss-draped branches.

Researcher Dr Charley Gros in Tasmania’s Takanya wilderness. “In Europe, we don’t have forests like this any more.”Credit: Geraldine Brooks

“In Europe, we don’t have forests like this any more.” And depending on an imminent decision by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, we mightn’t have this one much longer either.

The global mining company MMG Ltd, which is 68 per cent owned by China’s Minmetals, proposes to drown this forest under an enormous tailings dam full of acidic mine waste if initial soil sampling and engineering investigations, which the minister must approve, confirms the suitability of the site.

Unlike many environmental decisions, this one should be an easy call. MMG could use an alternative disposal method, paste fill, in which tailings are turned into an inert substance and pumped back into the ground either as backfill or reinforcing.

It’s industry best practice, used at mines all over the world to avoid the toxic leaks and deadly collapses that........

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