Cleaning up the asbestos in and around Wittenoom would be one of the biggest and most complex mine site rehabilitations in history, according to a mine restoration expert.
But Curtin University's Adam Cross says rehabilitating the land in Western Australia's Pilbara region, which could cost more than $100 million, would still be a worthy investment.
Dr Cross's comments come as traditional owners renew calls for the McGowan government to lead the clean-up and return their country to its original state.
The state government formally closed Wittenoom last month, but has not released rehabilitation plans for the former asbestos mining region, which it feels will probably never be safe to visit.
The disastrous industry left behind three million tonnes of asbestos tailings, which litter the 46,000 hectare Wittenoom Asbestos Management Area, now considered the largest contaminated site in the southern hemisphere.
Dr Cross said efforts to restore the landscape would be unprecedented because of the scale of the task and the potentially deadly risks for the people doing it.
"Wittenoom really is something that is almost unparalleled around the world," he said.
Dr Cross said the financial costs could run in to the hundreds of millions of dollars, but stressed that someone had to take responsibility for cleaning up the area.
"I think the true cost of actually restoring the landscape to the standards that are expected nationally and internationally would actually blow most people's minds," Dr Cross said.
"We have an implicit requirement to try and return landscapes that we damaged to something like the ecological quality that was there before we impacted upon them."
Owners want country back
The country surrounding Wittenoom belongs to the Banjima native title holders of the Pilbara.
Banjima elder Maitland Parker said the final closure of the town was "the best news", but his attention had turned to fixing the contamination.
The asbestos has prevented Mr Parker from visiting his country around Wittenoom for more than 20 years.
He says the government should spare no expense in its rehabilitation efforts.
"I don't care what the cost is," Mr Parker said.
"It's about time the government put their hand in their pocket and did something about it.
WA Lands Minister John Carey said the Wittenoom Steering Committee would be re-established to assess and advise the government on management options for the area.
He said the cost of restoration had not been estimated and goals needed to be "realistic", because completely cleaning up the site might not be possible.
"No detailed work has been done on estimating the cost of clean-up, but given the severity and extent of the contamination, it would be a significant undertaking," he said.
