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The troglobite, a minuscule spider-like creature that lives in dark spaces, has halted development of a A$12.5 billion ($14 billion) iron ore mine in Western Australia.
Rio Tinto, a multinational mining giant, was hoping to mine 200 million tonnes of iron ore over the next decade from a site near the town of Pannawonica in the Pilbara region.
But when the company commissioned a study of the environmental impact of its plans, it uncovered 11 species of troglobite, including five believed to be unique to the site. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled the project should not proceed because of "a high and unacceptable risk" that those five species could become extinct.
Troglobites, which grow to 4mm, date from an era millions of years ago when Australia was covered in rainforest. Nowadays, they are found only underground in arid areas.
Distantly related to spiders but adapted to life in total darkness, they have no eyes, but have long front legs which they use as feelers. Like spiders, they move swiftly when disturbed.
According to The West Australian newspaper, Rio Tinto claims that the new mine is crucial to the area's economic well-being. An existing mine nearby, on which Pannawonica - a town of 700 people - has depended for the past three decades, will be exhausted by the end of 2010.
The president of Ashburton Shire Council, Leanne Corker, warned that it could become a ghost town if the project did not go ahead.
"When there's uncertainty, people start to get itchy feet and they start looking elsewhere."
- INDEPENDENT
