tenure allowed for sustainable harvesting. The subsequent work was publicly released in the 2017 Special Species Timber Management Plan. Given that significant areas of special timber forests were included in the 2013 Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area extension, the Tarkine area remains a vital resource for the culturally significant special timbers sector. Although ENGOs had previously shown strong support for the special timbers sector, this has now largely been withdrawn due to the conflict between resource location and reservation aspirations. Mining in the Tarkine The areas of Corinna - Long Plains, as well as the Savage, Donaldson and Whyte rivers, were important early goldfields, exploited since the 1870s. Tasmania's two largest gold nuggets, of 7.6 and 4.4 kg, were found near the confluence of the Whyte and Rocky rivers. Tin mining was prominent in both the Mt Bischoff - Waratah area, starting in the 1870s, and the Meredith Range - Stanley River - Wilson River area. The Mt. Bischoff mine in Waratah was in its heyday one of the richest tin deposits in the world. From the 1880s onwards, osmiridium was extensively mined in many creeks and rivers in the catchments of the Savage, Haezlewood and Wilson rivers, and particularly the Bald Hill area. Tin, copper and tungsten were mined at Balfour, and, from the 1890s, the Magnet mine was exploited for silver. It continues to be an significant amateur fossicking area for mineral specimens to this day. Historically, approximately 600 mine tenements have been worked in the Tarkine area, but most of them were small alluvial workings, involving the sifting of gravels from riverbeds. Mining activity in the Tarkine has continued uninterrupted since the 1870s, and two modern industrial mines are currently operating in the area: a small silica quarry, and a large open-cut iron ore mine at Savage River.Both these existing mines are outside of the proposed Tarkine National Park boundary. In addition, 38 exploration licenses are currently held over areas of the Tarkine, and 10 mines have been proposed over the 2012-2017 period. Of these proposed mines, nine are proposed to be open cut mines. The issue of mining in the Tarkine is highly contentious, as conservationists oppose the environmental damage caused by modern mining methods. The Tarkine is highly prospective for economically-important minerals, and proponents argue that current and proposed mines would take up just 1% of the Tarkine. Conservationists argue that this impact is greater