Bowdens Silver

I am strongly in favor of this project. I think it can have a tremendous impact on the Mudgee region, like a similar project in Neighbouring Orange had.
As an Orange resident, I’ve seen the positive impact the Cadia mine has had on the region. Prior to Cadia, Orange was any other run of the mill country town, with little tourism, high unemployment and little really going for it. Cadia brought money into the region which saw the growth of vineyards, investment in food and wine etc. this had an amazing effect on tourism in the area, which is now one of the regions strongest industries. It also gave young people jobs so they didn’t leave for the city, this has the flow on effect of more young families, childcare and schools getting bigger, increased community involvement in sport etc. the Mine also helped stimulate the Orange region’s economy, brings in all sort of industry (Trades, health, hospitality).
Mudgee is a similarly spectacular area, with a tremendous potential. A mine there will encourage investment in the area, which can only help our beautiful central west grow.

I object to the Bowden silver mine. I have many concerns about this project. I bought my property for the view and the country peace and the Bowden silver mine will ruin all of this . My property looks out over beautiful rural areas that are going to be the tailings dam and also the road into the mine. I also have concerns about the air quality being contaminated and also the water in the Lawson creek. I really see no positives in mining Lue the risks are very high that it will contaminate the air and water in the area and effectively the whole of the Mudgee region.

I am certainly a person who loves the area that I live in and regularly drive along the picturesque Lue Road to and from Mudgee. I believe that the Bowden business is strongly committed to minimising their impact to Lue area and removing all environmental and health risks. We now live in a new era of mining and mining governance which will ensure that impacts of this important operation are controlled with continual monitoring and reporting.
Please accept this submission and the comments as support for the project.

Please find attached my objection to the project as a former professional expert (CSIRO) on heavy metal pollution from heavy metal mines. The EIS is scientifically inadequate in regard to these issues.
Dr Haydn Washington

Dear Sir/Madam,
I wish to convey my full support for the Bowdens Silver Project and believe it has the very real potential to be a project of state and national significance.
If it proceeds, and is developed to its full potential, it will create many well paid jobs locally with associated spin off economic benefits, as well as significant revenue streams through royalties for the NSW Govt and people of the region/state.
I have been an Australian resources investor for many years and have been a shareholder of Silver Mines Ltd since 2016. I believe there is a very significant silver resource at Bowdens, which is globally quite rare due to it being the primary metal in ground. Most mined silver comes from copper/gold/zinc deposits and there are few pure silver mines in the world. Approximately 80% are in Mexico.
If the deposits are as large as I believe they are one could expect significant revenue to be generated over the life of mine, especially as the spot silver price is going to go up substantially in coming years, for a multitude of reasons.

Regards,

Mark Brown

See attachment.

The reason for my submission against the Bowden's Silver Mine in Lue is three fold. Firstly I have great concerns for the health and vitality of Lawson Creek. This creek provides for livestock and cropping through and beyond Mudgee. Secondly the increase and safely of Lue Road, not only the increase in traffic at all hours of the day but also the nature of the traffic. My concern extends to the movement of hazardous materials not only along Lue Road but also through Mudgee. My final concern is for the impact on other water infrastructure in the region, the movement of water and the unpredictable nature of rain fall levels.

I recently moved to Rylstone (about 25 km from Lue) in order to buy property and build a house at the Rylstone Aerodrome. I was dismayed to learn about the proposed lead mine at nearby Lue. Let me state that I do not object in principal to these sorts of infrastructure projects. My objection is based on environmental dangers, primarily:

1. Water usage and potential ground water pollution.
2. Lead dust and real danger to young school age children within a 4 km radius of site.

With respect to #1 above, the proposed amount of water usage appears to fly in the face of all reason considering the fragile situation re water and the recent major draught. The use of extremely poisonous chemicals (cyanide amongst others) has the potential to pollute the ground water aquifer which would be a disaster of immense consequence.

With respect to #2 above, Lue has an important primary school that currently educates disabled and handicapped children. Recent studies of lead pollution in Broken Hill have clearly demonstrated that lead dust will produce dangerous blood levels of lead in children over a 4 km radius.Lead poisoning has demonstrated negative effects on IQ. The 2 km radius at Lue creates a totally unacceptable risk to our most vulnerable citizens.

Let me conclude this brief submission by saying that I could possibly support this project but ONLY if verifiable mediations were proposed to eliminate any possibility of aquifer pollution and dust dangers to children. In addition, I could only support the project if at the conclusion of mining the entire site was restored and cleaned up. The current proposal upon termination is unacceptable and leaves an immense level of ground and water pollution.

Thank you for considering my objections.

I am a beef cattle farmer living 5kms downstream from the proposed Bowdens Mine on the Lawson Creek 7km towards Mudgee by road from Lue. My family has farmed this land for five generations and our property has a 3.5km frontage to the Lawson Creek which supplies all our stock and domestic water for the property.
We operate our farm sustainably and with great care to ensure that it is not overgrazed, that as much water and nutrients are retained on our land and not washed into Lawson Creek. The drought has been extremely challenging but through careful management our land recovered quickly.
I strongly oppose the mine on a number of grounds.
1. This mine is 2 km from the Lue township and a primary school
2. The mine will produce 95000 tonnes of lead - a highly toxic mineral. There is no safe level to exposure of lead especially for children and this mine is just 2km from Lue School. The EIS underestimates community exposure levels because it doesn’t use concentrate or mine ore materials as a source of dust and it doesn’t analyse the effect of peak wind events on dust movements.
3. Bowdens will operate 24 hours a day seven days a week with blasting allowed six days a week - this is totally unacceptable and reasonable for the residents of Lue
4. A deadly cyanide plant will operate on site.
5. 227000 tonnes of ore will be trucked along the winding and narrow Lue Road through Mudgee town ship.
6. The EIS estimates the water level in Lawson Creek will drop by one metre rendering much of the Creek dry for all other users. Bowdens Mine will use more water from the Lawson Creek catchment than all current users combined. Desk top modelling is used extensively throughout the EIS, there is very little actual data. Data on flow rates within Lawson Creek have been calculated based up the Australian Water Balance Model as there are no measured stream flows in the Lawson Creek catchment.
7. Ground water levels on the mine site will drop by 25 metres. The open cut pit will continue to draw on ground water for up to 100 years after the mine has been abandoned -bores in the village will be polluted and dry.
8. The mine will produce two massive dumps of 56 million tonnes of acid forming rock and tailings (crushed ore remnants post processing) above the water table and local creek catchments of Price Creek, Hawkins Creek and Lawson Creek. 26 million tonnes of rock is PAF potentially acid forming which will be stacked over the water catchment covering 77 hectares.
9. Over 16 years to extract ore 43,700 tonnes of chemicals will be added to process the ore including 2850 tonnes of Sodium Cyanide. Many of the chemicals are toxic and will end up in the tailings dam along with 30 millions of crushed ore remnants which is 117 ha. This will sit above Lawson Creek catchment forever.
10. A highly toxic large tailings dam will be constructed less than a kilometre from Lawson Creek and will be there forever long after the mine has been abandoned - these dams have been known to fail, the result would be an environmental disaster for Lawson Creek which feeds into the Cudgegong River at Mudgee. It will pollute our water supply forever.
No information on the effectiveness of this tailings dam in containing acid water from seeping to the surrounding environment is provided in the EIS.
11. The embankment at Newcrest’s Cadia Gold Mine at Orange failed in March 2018 resulting in breakthrough of tailings material. The breakthrough was contained within a second tailings dam. Bowdens does not propose to have such a back up. The breakthrough at Cadia was caused by an earth tremor.
12. The economics of this mine do not add up. Assumed silver price in the EIS is US$10.91/oz, over the last 5 years the silver price has never reached this level and if production costs increase, the mine will be even less viable.
13. The mine cannot source enough water locally so is relying on water from Ulan or Moolarben mines via a 58km pipeline, this supply has not been guaranteed and most likely will only be available when seasons are good - in drought those mines will not have excess water.
14. 5-16 tonnes of explosives and oxidising agents will be transported along Lue Road. This is already very busy and often winding and narrow with four creek crossings.
15. Bowdens does not offer a suitable plan for rehabilitation of the mine. After sixteen years the tailings dam and all the PAF will remain forever.
16. I am particularly concerned about the Acid Mine Drainage AMD into our water table and to Lawson Creek. The Bowden EIS only mentions AMD as an issue raised by the government and the community not as an issue that applies to Bowdens. This is not true, it is a very serious issue at this mine. According to the EIS iron sulphide is the most wide-spread sulphide material found at the mine site. Once a sulphide metal deposit is opened to the air (as it would be in mining) the bacteria Acidithiobacillus lives by breaking down the sulphide minerals to sulphuric acid. I am told that this then liberates heavy metals such as zinc, copper and cadmium which are all highly toxic to aquatic life and plants. This will also raise the pH levels in streams becoming highly acidic.
Highly reputable professional journals emphasize the scale of damage and threat to our surface and ground water supplies posed by AMD. Engineers Australia (EA 2019) stated the United Nations recently labelled AMD as the second biggest problem facing the world after global warming.
17. There are three heavy metal mines in NSW with serious problems. Sunny Corner near Bathurst closed 98 years ago and AMD and heavy metal pollution continues. Captains Flat, a lead, zinc, copper, pyrite , silver and gold mine near Canberra stopped in 1962 and despite considerable government funded rehabilitation, this mine still have serious heavy metal pollution issues. Woodlawn mine near Tarago had a waste rock dump over a dam which overflowed in to a creek which was bright blue from copper carbonate. Is this to be the fate of Lawson Creek?
18. The EIS incorrectly assumes that Waste Rock Emplacement on the site containing 26 million tonnes of Potentially Acid Forming rock will not be dangerous to waterways when it leaches but will only cause the water to be dirty.
19. The Lawson Creek valley is subject to severe flooding. These impacts will be more severe when land is cleared for mining. We experienced localised rainfall measuring 225ml overnight in February 2002 after a prolonged drought. This caused a massive loss of top soil and erosion. This will happen again.
Conclusion: I strongly oppose Bowdens Mine as it poses a huge threat to our physical and mental health, our water ways and our groundwater both in terms of quality and quantity and our air quality and our farming business. A mine will have a very negative effect on the quality of life for those 192 people who live in Lue and the many more people who live on the surrounding rural properties. If Bowdens Mine project proceeds it will be an environmental disaster for the greater Mudgee region.

As a former teacher at Lue Public school and a long term member of the local community of Lue and the Mudgee surrounds I am putting forward my concerns for the development of the Silver Mine at Bowdens. The impacts of this mine will not only affect the Local Lue community which is a strong, thriving and close community, but the greater community of Mudgee. I would like to highlight a few areas of concern.
Firstly to title the mine as a Silver mine is quite deceptive when LEAD will also be extracted from this mine in larger quantities than Silver. Should this not be titled a Lead and Silver Mine? While many of the community members in Lue are aware of the Silver mine also extracting Lead greater awareness should be put forward to the local Mudgee Community on the rates of lead extraction from this mine as it will severely impact the local ecosystems and also has the potential to impact the waterways which in turn would impact the booming agriculture businesses and our biggest tourism sector being the wineries. If Lead was to get into the water systems and flow through the waterways in the Mudgee Local community and impact the large amount of wineries this would be devastating for the town which relies on this tourism to support the town.
The local school of Lue Public school is a vital service for students. While some may say that it is not far to get to Mudgee to attend school and there is a bus, the school services a unique community and benefits children who have particular needs that are not met in the larger schools. Many students who attend this school actually travel from surrounding communities to get there because of the unique service it provides that these particular students may miss out on or be swallowed within the ‘system’ and not achieve their full potential. Many students that attend this school receive more one-on-on support and students who may have been targeted as ‘misbehaving’ or ‘behind’ in larger schools have a much better school experience. Misbehaviour can often develop because a student has trouble reading or learning, where students at Lue due to the amount of support they can receive learn to read and write and become happy and positive students where some of these students may have not succeed in this in larger schools. Students have attended Lue and changed their behaviours and made academic improvements. The school also is able to foster unique activities such as looking after a garden, chooks and has local connections to local businesses for learning such as the new Bonsia shop. If the lead was to increase at a school like Lue Public school it would be required to be shut down. This would be a devastating loss to the community and to the unique students who access this school.
The surrounding areas of Bowdens proposed Mine site has many Aboriginal Heritage sites the damage that could be caused to these sites will be a great loss to a culture that has already had ongoing sufferings from land takings.
Koalas are an endangered species and have been located in this area. This has not been presented accurately in the EIS.
Finally on a personal note, I, like many have lived and grown up in this community. I am now 32 and lived there for the majority of my lifetime. The property itself hold special memories it is both a land that is engrained in me as a person and I would hope I would, and my children in the future be part of this special land. The property that my parents reside on, where I grew up and now where I am a partial owner is not just a property to us but a place that holds deep connection and this land is also part of me, who I am. It is a place that should be passed down through my family. I am just one person in many people who have lived here and have had this special place become a part of yourself. To destroy this land would by taking something away from us all that we would never get back. I do not believe that the EIS has provided adequate information nor has it highlighted the fact that people may have to re-locate due to this mine due to safety and what this will mean for the local community.

Too close to village of Lue and Lawsons Creek. Potential for lead poisoning. Potential to both drain and contaminate vital water supplies. Environment compromised.

CBased Environmental supports the Bowdens Silver project due to the many benefits this project will have for the local economy, for the State of NSW and for Australia. Some major benefits include creating jobs, which will support local employment and increase spending in the local community and NSW. Another is the injection of money into the economy to build and operate the project. Still another is mining and producing silver, a valuable commodity for industrial use, which may further stimulate the Australian economy.
Providing jobs, injecting money into the local and NSW economy and increasing our production of valuable products is critical in the current financial situation in Australia due to the Coronavirus pandemic and this is why we support this project.

My children and grandchildren live in Mudgee. I support environmentally sound mining and industry in and around regional townships in NSW. I grew up in a town slightly larger than Mudgee and I understand the problems in towns where employment and job opportunities are dwindling. I understand that the Project is expected to directly generate employment for approximately 246 on-site workers and 74 off-site workers for the construction phase, and between 192 and 228 workers over 15 years as part of the operational workforce.
This sort of project would also have significant ‘knock-on' effects in the ongoing benefits for local and regional communities not just through employment, but also financial boost of local services, community participation, local and regional expenditure, community investment and payment of royalties, taxes and rates. Given the current economic climate from the loss of significant jobs from COVID-19 all employment growing industries should be welcome.
A financially prosperous region usually reflects into well maintained community facilities, stable house and land prices and growing schools and higher education. Something all residents in and around Mudgee would appreciate.

I live approximately 2 kilometres from the processing plant of this proposed lead mine. I have resided at this address for about 40 years and I appreciate the beauty and quietness of this area. Our property is a beef cattle enterprise. We depend on bore water for the cattle and irrigation, especially during the recent drought.
My main concerns are NOISE, WATER and CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION.
NOISE.
The proposal is that this mine will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at very loud and intrusive noise levels. This noise will be from the processing plant, heavy machinery, trucks and intermittent blasting. This is totally unacceptable in this quiet rural environment.
WATER.
Due to mine usage of underground water and cutting into aquifers from the open cut mine, water levels in farm bores will be diminished removing our guarantee of water for stock and irrigation especially in droughts as we have had recently. This would diminish production of our property and therefore the value. Water collected from house and shed roofs would be contaminated by lead and will not be fit for drinking and other domestic use. Water would have to be purchased.
CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION.
CYANIDE will be used in the extraction of silver. There are risks in transportation, handling in the process plant and permanent contamination in the tailings dam.
LEAD dust will contaminate soil and water, getting into the human food chain via water and home grown vegetables.
Lead is highly toxic to children causing decreased IQ and behavioural problems. Once lead is in the body it stays permanently. Current medical opinion/WHO is that there is no safe level of lead for children. It is criminal to allow a new lead producing mine where children are growing up in a nearby small town and properties. The proposed lead mine is approximately 2 kilometres from Lue Primary School.
Why would you allow this lead exposure when lead has been removed from petrol, paint and all other lead-containing substances that the community is exposed? Is this a special type of double standard where the residents around this mine are second class citizens and can have this exposure?
ACID MINE DRAINAGE is considered to be the second most important problem to our civilisation after climate change. Sulphides exposed by the mine will be changed to sulphuric acid which is highly toxic and allows heavy metals to leach into the environment. This process will add to the permanent toxicity of the tailings dam, the overburden pile and the water in the open cut as it fills with water.
The TAILINGS DAM will be 107 hectares (apparently the largest in Australia)l lined by a thin 1.5mm plastic membrane that is very likely to be pierced by rocks or later vegetation allowing toxins (lead, zinc, arsenic, cyanide etc) to seep out and down to the Lawsons Creek. This dam is a complex engineering structure with risk of failure. Andrew Mackenzie, CEO of BHP, stated that tailings dams do fail with certain regularity. This tailings dam, part of the lead, zinc and silver mine, will stay forever full of toxins waiting to be an environmental disaster.
A short sighted, irresponsible approach puts more value on 15 years of some extra jobs and government royalties at the expense of permanent and certain environmental disaster.
The Silver Mines Limited has never developed a mine to operational level and this lack of experience adds to the risks. There is a high likelihood that the mine will be sold on to overseas interests
Who will bear the legal responsibility for this:- the government? the planning authorities? the mining company?

I am opposed to this mine. There are many many reasons why but i am sure that you have already been advised the numerous problems by the people who are against it.To put it simply this project WILL desecrate the surrounding countryside forever, this is even without any major catastrophes that I believe WILL happen.The other major issue is the disruption to people who live nearby, destroy their livelihoods and everything they have worked hard for.Living near this mine will be a living hell.

With my husband I hold around 800 acres which borders the project site on the Eastern side. We have been here for 35 years, during which time we have created or preserved over 350 acres of remnant vegetation, wildlife habitat, native grasses, Aboriginal sites and wetlands. This project threatens all this plus our home, memories, land, business and future in this community.

Silver Mines Limited has not earned the right to advance this devastating project with this grossly incompetent and inadequate EIS. A reading of the SEARS alongside the EIS shows the many ways the company has failed, through incompetence, negligence, obfuscation and deception to produce a document that can give locals, the people of the Mudgee district, the Midwestern Council or the Department of Planning any confidence in this project or this proponent.
I understand Consultants representing the Community will clearly demonstrate the failures in this EIS in their areas of expertise but I  want to highlight just a few areas of particular interest to me.

LEAD. In particular the baseline studies of lead levels at Lue Public School. 

The SEARS called several times for thorough baseline studies of lead in Lue. Clearly there are no up to date reliable figures showing the levels of lead in soil, water, surfaces and ceilings at Lue Public and this company shows no interest in or capability of providing them. SVL is content that there are figures, however questionable, showing pre-existing contamination at the school.

The mining company has an interest in being able to claim in future that there were always dangerous levels of lead at the school and it is grossly negligent at best for SVL to rely solely on such limited and now wholly discredited data as that produced by the previous proponent in 2013.

The guidelines quoted in that study are outdated and discredited. The company which did the study notes on its website that over 2000mg/kg lead in ceilings is "highly hazardous".
The findings at the school indicate 48000mg/kg. Also a figure such as 20-5600mg/kg in ceilings and surfaces when 300mg/kg is the maximum safe level is pitifully inadequate, great cause for concern and requires further investigation and remediation.  SVL ignored this either through incompetence or intent to deceive.
SVL has a consultant that the CEO has described as a lead expert who clearly is not. She has either not read the Kingsgate figures, not understood their gravity, or most concerningly has chosen not to follow them up with the people affected. This contamination is largely the result of lead paint and can be fixed.  The School should show as near to zero lead contamination as possible before a lead mine so close is even considered for approval.

SVL maintains this "is a historical matter that is not associated with Bowdens Silver." ( Blake Hjorth email). It shows no interest and sees no obligation to check the Kingsgate data or advise on remediation. The children and staff at Lue school are not safe if this proponent is allowed to conduct lead mining so close to the village.

ACID MINE DRAINAGE: It is not possible to say much about the way the EIS addresses Acid Mine Drainage because it doesn't even acknowledge the problem. This is beyond incompetence and negligence. It is unethical. There has never been a heavy metal mine that has failed to pollute surrounding streams and rivers. The company must be required to show what it will do to address this problem and how it will succeed where no other projects have.

ABORIGINAL HERITAGE: The SEARS require that the EIS also studies the potential effects on nearby Aboriginal Heritage sites even if outside the present project boundaries. It fails to do this.
Our land which borders the project contains several such sites, including correctly registered,  widespread and hugely significant grinding grooves. Effects on these and other sites nearby must be considered in the EIS.

KOALAS: An examination of registered koala sightings (collected by the University of Sydney)in the immediate surroundings of this project over many years demonstrates the inadequacy of what appears in the EIS in relation to koalas. There have been several recent unregistered sightings to my knowledge in the immediate area of this project. 

WATER SUPPLY:
The SEARS require that there be an adequate secured water supply demonstrated in the EIS. The company concedes that this requirement has not been met. Mining cannot be allowed to commence without this fundamental issue being fully addressed.

We will not be able to live here or continue production, nor will we able to sell our land, if lead is dug up, disturbed, processed and transported so close to our home.
I urge the Department of Planning  to  reject this EIS, this proponent and this devastating
project

Bowdens Silver Mine Project
My name is Bronwen Dowler, I live 14 kilometres away from the mine site alongside the Lawson Creek,
and I wish to thank you for this chance to make a submission against the building of the mine.
My particular concerns are:-
1) the establishment of a lead mine, I was under the impression it was a silver mine. Lead is very toxic
and is particularly dangerous to children who live in the vicinity
2) the potential for cyanide and other toxic tailings to pollute the water in Lawson Creek which is
essential for farming further upstream. Lawson Creek frequently floods because of heavy rains falling and
the amount of water which gushes down the hills is very damaging to dams causing land erosion. The tailings
dam would need to be highly protected, perhaps a second dam to provide more catchment for these wild weather
events.
3) I am also concerned about the local fauna and flora which will be affected by the silver mine.

My family and I have visited the Lue district over many years. It's a beautiful part of Australia's countryside. A silver mine in this area would be devastating for the landscape and pollute the waterways, jeopardizing the health of wildlife and community members. Please do not allow the Bowdens Silver mine to go ahead for the benefit of not only the local people living in the Lue village but for us all. Keep it in its pristine state for us all to enjoy both now and in the future.

MSB Total Solutions is diverse business located in Mudgee. The business has been operating since 1992 and has developed around being specialists in corrosion and wear protection. Over this time, MSB has developed into a solutions business for mining, power, industrial and commercial sectors.
Through our association with all types of mining throughout our region, we have seen the massive focus that these companies place on safety and the environment under the guidance and coaching from the relevant regulators. At MSB we believe, and have confidence, that the Bowden's project at Lue would meet or exceed all expectations of the stakeholders. Their current openness and transparency within our community is to be admired and wish them every success with the project.
MSB Total Solutions is fully supportive of this submission.