I agree it is just a small part of a much larger issue which...

I agree it is just a small part of a much larger issue which needs to be addressed.
It's not the right thing to do in the Pilliga and it's not right for Gogo station or Robe River Iron Ore.
Just as it wasn't right to send children into the mill 200 years ago.
I don't suggest solutions are easy or without compromise they are however inevitable the only choices are to act now or postpone it. Until resources get more expensive and natural areas even more scarce.
From a continental perspective we had a vast and complex interlinked environmental system across Australia and the argument now is should we preserve the remanents.
I would argue that their scarcity only makes them even more precious and we have no right to make that decision as stewards of the planet which we have on loan from future generations.
In addition STO directors are awful stewards of capital, there are WAY WAY better investment options than digging up and attempting to subsequently remediate as much as possible the Pilliga. All this wealth they have pretty much pissed up against the wall, other resource companies - same deal.
They shouldn't be making these decisions that affect us all and spending all this effort to manipulate the narrative. They should get with the program and provide real solutions.