McPhillamys Gold Project

 
I object to this proposed mine for the following reasons:
• The vast majority of Australia is in the grip of drought, claimed by some to be the most severe and widespread in recorded history. Most expert opinion is that, due to the now unavoidable climate change caused by global warming, such droughts are going to become the new normal. This will result in reduced rainfall, increased evaporation, and consequent scarcity of water for all purposes, including farming, on which we all depend for food production. Yet this project is seriously proposing to construct a tailings dam, full of potentially toxic sludge, on top of the headwaters of one of the few rivers in the country still in reasonable condition.
 
• Tailings dams have been known to fail, with catastrophic consequences. Destroying this agricultural area for a 15 year project to extract gold at a concentration of perhaps 1.05gm/tonne, producing 60m+ tonnes of waste, and leaving a destroyed landscape and toxic legacy that will last forever just cannot be justified to produce a metal that will likely end up as jewellery, or be locked away as bullion. No doubt the financiers and engineers who are promoting and designing this project are highly skilled, but the risks posed by this project are way out of proportion with the benefit to be gained for the country as a whole.
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• The use of cyanide to process the gold from ore and then pumped into the tailings dam. Cyanide has been banned in nine countries, Korea, Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey, Germany and Hungary and some US states and poses a dangerous and toxic threat to the water and land in the region.
• Inevitable contamination of the Belubula and Lachlan Rivers, due to seepage though groundwater flows from the tailings dam
• Traffic problems and caused by the continuous stream of heavy vehicles, and light vehicles at shift changes
• The blot on the landscape caused by the “amenity bunds” and dust
• Loss of natural land and environment for wildlife, and the impact of toxicity on surrounding wildlife
• Noise, dust, vibrations, particulate pollution from diesel fumes, light pollution 7 days a week and 24 hours a day
• The noise, vibrations and risks posed by regular explosions permitted for 12 hours a day. This will impact live stock and dometic animals on neighbouring properties and could damange heritage buildings
• Permanent degradation of prime agricultural land and scenery
• Loss of trees including high altitude yellow box that may be 200 years old
• Impact on bee population due to loss of ground flora and contaminated water
• Loss of the forest where the mine is proposed that is considered an ecologically endangered community as defined by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage
• The high probability that the developer will not be willing or able to rehabilitate the site when the mine eventually becomes unviable, as has happened so many times in the history of mining
• The whole project proposes less than 1000 short terms jobs. Other industries in this area, with support a more diversified and resilient economy including tourism, renewables and sustainable agriculture offer far more employment.

I do not support the proposal to allow this gold mine and it's production facility for the following reasons:
1. the large volume of water the mine will consume
2. the drawing of water from the acquifer via the mines extensive ground water licences and the potential diminishing of this valuable, irreplaceable resource
3. the impact of the mines water usage and storage on surrounding farm dams and farmland
4. the disruption to water flows into Belubula River
5. the placement of the Tailings Dam on the headwaters of the Belubula River
6. the level of toxicity in the tailings and the serious risk of contamination to ground water and the Belubula River
7. the significance of the Belubula River to the supply of water to the local community and the serious risk of loss of flow and contamination, and
8. the large volume of salt contained in the proposed water supply from Lithgow to the mine and the resulting risk and catastrophic consequences should the Tailings Dam fail, leak or seap resulting in that salt finding its way into the Belubula River and then the downstream into the Lachlan River and eventually into the highly significant water source of the Murray Darling Basin.
Please consider the impact this project will have on our water supply and on that basis the project should not proceed.

I have attached objection on behalf of myself and my 2 daughters Emily Wade and Zoey Wade

McPhillamys Gold Mine Proposal Submission
John Holliday, 23 October, 2019
I object to the Proposal as it is currently constituted for the following reasons:
It does not seek approval for an important planned third part (the first two parts being the mine site and the pipeline) of the final Project, specifically the mining and trucking transport of arsenic- rich gold ore from the Discovery Ridge deposit. Regis has in many statements to the investor community made it clear that the mining of Discovery Ridge is a firm part of their McPhillamys Project plan and that they are including it in their Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for the Project (see Regis June 2019 Quarterly Report p9). At his September presentation to the Denver Gold Forum 2019 the Managing Director stated that the Discovery Ridge deposit contains 10 million tonnes at 1.2g/t gold and that he anticipated an annual production of 900,000 to 1,000,000 tones from the deposit. What he didn’t mention is that Discovery Ridge ore has on average about 1% arsenic (ref: Hargraves 2nd Annual Report on Discovery Ridge EL4645 1996), arsenic which will end up in the McPhillamys tailing dam and could potentially seep from there into the surrounding surface water and groundwater. I contend that if the Board of Regis Resources is to make a final investment decision for the Project on the basis of a DFS that includes Discovery Ridge then the community affected and the regulatory authorities should also be able to make their decisions on the same whole-of-Project basis. Therefore, the current permitting process should be postponed until Regis can resubmit their Project proposal with the inclusion of the mining and trucking of Discovery Ridge ore.
In light of the above it is clear that the design of the McPhillamys tailing dam is a very critical issue. I note in this context that the mining industry in central NSW has a history of poorly performing and failed tailings dams (at Junction Reefs and Cadia). The Project tailings dam needs to be designed from the very beginning to potentially need to safely contain in perpetuity a highly toxic heavy metal (arsenic). However, the current Project EIS does not really address the issue of a high level of heavy metals in some of the tailings because test results presented are only from McPhillamys mine ore (this despite the fact that Discovery Ridge ore was made available to at least one of the EIS sub-consultants – see EIS Appendix D p58).
Further, the proposed tailings dam design is at significant variance from regulatory guidelines in relation to seepage prevention and management (Appendix D p35). The varied design includes “back-up interception bores” (Appendix D p75), which is an admission of some likelihood of seepage. One is left wondering just who will monitor and operate these bores after the Project has completed its relatively short life, and seepage continues for decades. A current example of such ongoing seepage is the old Junction Reefs mine site where a Mining Lease has had to be kept in place more than 20 years after mine closure partly because of toxic tailings seepage.
In view of these concerns for the efficacy of the Project tailings storage I contend that a peer review of the tailings dam design is essential (as sub-consultants ATC Williams note is a possibility – Appendix D p36). Such peer review should be by a completely mining-industry independent consultant. Since the tailings dam may contain significant heavy metals (if Discovery Ridge ore comes in), and since the dam sits in the headwater of a major inland river system, the peer review should be given a brief to recommend a tailings dam design with, if possible, no seepage. If a better tailings dam costs more then so be it. The integrity of the Belubula-Lachlan River system is much more important than Regis’s profits.
Ends.

The reason I don't want this mine to go ahead is that it will ruin my and others future. This community will never be the same again. I live in the Blayney community and our property is along the Belubula River. If the tailings Dam breaks, or even seeps into the river it will destroy the whole river, which we rely on, and other farmers as well.
King Plains will basically be destroyed, with terrible noise and dust pollution. Towns like Orange, Millthorpe and Bathurst will also be affected, considering we get dust storms at the moment that start in Broken Hill.
Explosions in the pit could cause earth tremors as well.
I am really concerned as I have to travel on a bus past the proposed mine site two times a day. At the moment it is rolling hills with cattle grazing quietly. If this mine goes ahead we will have dust issues, lots of heavy trucks on the road, noise and even rocks flying from the explosions, because I can see where the pit will be from my bus window, its about 500m metres from the highway. The risk of an accident will be increased and I worry about that.
My mum and dad have been speaking about this mine for over a year now. They really don't want it to go ahead and it has changed our family life because I can see they are stressed and its all they talk about. I hope this mine doesn't go ahead so our family can go back to the way we were.

Harrison Price

I am totally opposed to this project! I trust that my attached submission will be given due consideration.

Dear Sir/Madam

I write on behalf of Orange City Council on the subject of the Regis Gold Mine in Blayney NSW. I thus assume the real nexus of any VPA with the Applicant lies with Cabonne and principally Blayney Councils. I encourage you to recognise the impacts this mine will have on those areas and to press for a fair and equitable VPA.

I note the potential positive benefits to Orange ratepayers in the form of investment and employment.

I further assume the social, environmental and water impacts arising from the mine if approved will be front and foremost in the regulators mind when making any decision.

I specifically note the proposed mine is not within our LGA so will confine my comments to one specific point. Pretty Plains Road lies within the Orange LGA. I encourage decision makers to include conditions of consent that will make the applicant utilise regional roads rather than local roads such as this. If not I would seek maintenance funding for this road as part of the approval conditions.

Yours Sincerely

David Waddell
Chief Executive Officer


P: (02) 63 938213
A: PO Box 35, ORANGE NSW 2800
E: [email protected]

W: www.orange.nsw.gov.au

In 1990 I came back to the Blayney area after studying agriculture in the Riverina. I appreciated the soils, climate, community and family support this area offered me in my late teens. I wanted to come home to the family farming business that my parents and grandparents established and ran successfully, but in order to do this I had to gain an off-farm income as our farm was not able to support my parents and myself. In 1992 I established a small agriculturally based business in the Blayney Shire. Initially I was the only person employed by the business – although like many small business owners I didn’t take a pay cheque for many years. My mum and dad and sisters helped me with work, money and advice in my first few years of trading. I was in my early 20’s and becoming used to debt and the responsibilities that come with this……this is not new to any young person establishing themselves in small business.
My business started, struggled, diversified and grew over the years since I commenced trading in 1992. This business has sometimes been the bane of my existence but has also provided me with stability, income and a career outside of the paddocks that surround my home. In 2009 I purchased the family farm from my parents. Without the business I had set up 17 years ago I would not have been able to do this.
Our farm and business is amidst and surviving one of the most significant droughts in the history of Australia. This business has been successful. We have many happy customers – and as with any small business a few unhappy ones – but they remain in the few. We provide contracting services to predominantly the Blayney/Orange/Bathurst area but have worked in Sydney, Nowra, Dubbo, Narromine, Condobolin, Nyngan, Wagga, Bethungra and everywhere in between. This business has supported our farming enterprise throughout many dry times. It has excluded us from any government drought assistance although the downturn in our business has been significantly impacted by the dry conditions.
Our business has gone from a single employee that did not take an income to a business that employees between 3-6 local people per annum. Our employees are local and some have moved to the area and bought with them a family. These families are employed and educated locally. They shop locally and love a coffee. They are educated and valuable community members who give time for voluntary pursuits. Our workers are an integral part of this business. They are the best spreader drivers and machinery operators in the area. They are very employable and there is a real risk of this mine offering them terms that we cannot compete with. Without these employees our business would be no longer. Our business will never be able to compete with mining wages. If we lose our skilled workers to this mine where will our business access other workers? In 10 years time when this mine reaped what it came for our business will be closed. If I was to re-establish how would workers come to the terms we had to offer. This would be an impossible scenario.
We pride ourselves on keeping our business local. We support local tyres, fuel, mechanics, rural supplies, engineering shops and health care to name a few. Just as an example we have approximately 300 tyres on farm and machinery. When our business is no longer due to the mine the local tyre supplier will be void of a large customer. When we have a breakdown we source a local mechanic or engineer to assist with getting us going again. If this mine progresses how will be access their services when they are already contracted to the mine.
In the past few years McPhillamy’s has purchased 7,000 acres of prime Agricultural land in the Blayney Shire. This has already significantly impacted the income of our business. The previous owners of this land were long standing customers who would acquire our services annually. We have approximated this income loss to around $40,000/year.
As mentioned we have spent many hours on the country that this mine will encumber. We have spent many hours bogged and asked to go home as the springs have opened and the land is too wet to drive over. These springs are the headwaters of the Belublua River. I don’t believe that the studies McPhillamy have provided allow for the unknown activity of the springs. On our own local property our dams and house water is provided by springs. We are the third generation and still are unable to follow any spring patterns. They are temperamental and unknown. If the Belubula river does not receive the water from the springs in the catchment it will become stagnant and stock will not be able to ingest. Without the springs the river will be dry and any rainfall will have to be significant to fill puddles and wet river bed before it will flow.
I have spent my life working this business and farm. A few years ago my wife and kids convinced me I needed to take some time for leisure away from the farm. We purchased a cheap speed boat and now spend some Saturday afternoons during Spring, Summer and Autumn on Carcoar dam engaging in water sports. The teenagers can’t get away from us unless they are skiing or they jump overboard ….. although from all accounts they love it as much as I do. If the Belubula River is compromised through the placement of the tailings dam this will no longer be viable due to reduced water in the dam.
The Blayney area is renowned for its Agricultural land and productive beef and lamb industries. This mine has the potential to impact this reputation. Our cattle are well produced ethically and are fed high quality feed. The contamination of dust noise and heavy minerals along with the possibility of environmental leaching into this area will affect this high standard that our previous generations have established. If there is an environmental disaster locally – and going off past mining experiences this is highly likely, our Blayney cattle will not be sourced as the quality beef they are. Coles and Woolworths will not want our stock in a customer driven enterprise. Media reports stigmatise and area and industry.
Is this mine really worth it? 10 years of input from a company who will come, take and leave? When they go they will leave a bloody big mess.

I am opposed to the construction of the McPhillamy mine at Kings Plains near Blayney.
I have lived and worked in Blayney community for the past 22 years. It has been a wonderful place to get married, start a family, raise kids, commence a health care career and initiate a small business.
Blayney has a renowned reputation throughout Australia as being highly productive Agricultural land. On a recent drive throughout NSW and QLD I observed that the Blayney area was the only district that had signs of green pick in the paddocks and dams with water. The acquisition of this highly productive agricultural land for mineral evacuation will negatively affect small businesses, the water quality and quantity of the Belubula River and future generations. The Mcphillamys mine also expose residents of nearby towns to increased health risks.
I work as a Registered Nurse in a local Emergency Department. I have seen numerous workplace injuries from people employed by a nearby mine that have resulted in young people having to undergo surgical intervention. These injuries could result in long term physical impairment. With the proximity of the mine to the local town of Blayney and the increased dust pollution I can predict an increase in respiratory based illnesses. In Blayney alone respiratory illness has claimed many young lives in recent years.
Blayney hospital is not equipped for disaster management and is not well resourced for increases in medical presentations and admissions. It does not have a doctor covering its emergency department. I recently attended a course at Westmead Hospital. This course is the Trauma Nursing Core Course and is the epitome of trauma nursing education throughout the world. This course delved into Disaster Management and one of the key aspects was the management of environmental poisoning. McPhillamys mine will use cyanide to extract gold. Cyanide use in the extraction of gold will release naturally occurring arsenic. I do not believe the use of this poison and the ramifications and exposure to residents of our community falls in line with the fresh, safe air we value. Popular shows “such as escape to the country” are based around this value of air quality. They are not entitled “escape to the mining waste dump” –this show may not get past the pilot screening.
I am married to a farmer and small business owner who has worked extremely hard for the life we have made and the business he has built. We commenced a farm contracting business in 1992 which primarily spreads fertiliser on local properties. We employ five local people and have done so for the past 20 years. The acquisition of 7,000 acres of land by McPhillamys has already had an impact on our business as this is prime agricultural land that has been associated with income for many years.
We are at risk of losing our five employees to this mine. These are valuable employees that we have spent time and money training over the last 10 years. Employment within our business has brought employees with families to this area. Without these employees our business would close. So in the mine apparently propping up businesses in this area – for us it will in fact be the downfall. This mine has been sold to the local community in terms of employment and business facilitation. Our business will close and the money we invest in local economy and employment will be no longer.
My primary opposition to this mine is the probable contamination of the Belubula River. The River is a historic and valuable water source throughout NSW. It is the major water source feeding the recreational dam at Carcoar. As mentioned earlier my husband is a hard working farmer who has been exposed to drought along with family tragedy. During summer our Saturday afternoons are spent with our three children skiing and fishing on Carcoar dam. This three hours of leisure is his only time away from our farm. Last year we were there with another neighbouring farmer and I overheard his friend saying "isn’t this a great thing to do – just a bit of time out". I was so pleased to hear this as depression and suicide is so prevalent among farmers. I look at Carcoar Dam as our therapy sessions. The dam holds a special place for me and my family. If McPhillamys mine is approved this family activity will be a thing of the past.
McPhillamys have introduced that the tailings dam is proposed to cover the area of land that forms the headwaters for the Belubula River. Given that natural springs in the Central West of NSW are very temperamental I am extremely concerned that the flow of the River will be compromised and the water contaminated. On our own property we have seen springs dry up the minute that they are tampered with.
Recently we have seen another local mine cause enormous environmental damage when the wall of the tailings dam collapsed. This has happened on two separate occasions. There is absolutely no guarantee that this would not happen with the proposed McPhillamys mine. This would in turn pollute our the Belubula River, Carcoar Dam and in turn the Lachlan River.
Water in Australia and worldwide has become a rare and precious resource. According to the World Health Organisation water and food are basic human rights. Nearby towns are forecast to be out of drinking water within months and globally there is a food shortage with one in nine people experiencing chronic hunger. In terms of this the acquisition of 7,000 acres of prime agricultural land for mining seems like a drop in the ocean ….. but we don’t want this for our beautiful Blayney?
The Central Tablelands of NSW is a food bowl - we will prosper without putting a big hole in our beautiful countryside. Our kids have been brought up in great community - they will get jobs outside of a big hole in our rich, alluvial soils. We will continue to live in an environment free of air pollutants, noise exposure, harsh metals and the imminent threat of pollution to our water sources without a big hole on the outskirts of our Blayney.
But unfortunately human rights don’t draw the money that big mining companies create ….. Please don’t put the big business of mining as a priority over our community.

I can not believe that this gold mine is set to go ahead and has been given the green light by our government. This goldmine will be on top of our natural springs and is likely to stop the river system from flowing, not to mention pollute our waterways. It will also affect our local endangered koala, squirrel gliders and other wildlife.
We should be investing in green energy, not water guzzling mines! This mine will be in the backyard of 88 households with around 180 people being affected by a mine that will operate 24/7 right near their home - there is no consideration for these farmers, beekeepers or business who are likely to lose their livelihoods.

I urge you, please stop this project from happening. I am only one voice, but I stand among many who strongly oppose this project. Use your brains, hearts and common sense in protecting our planet by stopping this project from moving forward.

I would like to support the Mcphillamys Gold Project.
I am a resident of Carcoar. During this very difficult drought time in our region, the McPhillamys Gold Project would bring growth, employment and some financial security to the people of Blayney and surrounds. Not only would the project bring direct employment to locals , it would also boost the ecomony by creating new business opportunities offering further employment opportunities throughout Blayney and surrounds.
There has been a long history of gold mining throughout the region with many towns founded because of gold mining. Farming and gold mining have worked side by side throughout this region for many many years.
In order for Blayney and surrounds to grow and be strong during uncertain times, such as this very difficult drought period, we need to secure this project for the current and future generations in our region.
Regis Resources have proven to me that they are committed to ensuring the community around the project are informed and given as much support as possible. I find Regis Resources professional, ethical and genuine.

My name is Tim, I'm a 40 year old musician and teacher. I was born in Orange, went to university in Bathurst, then moved to Canberra, then Dublin, then Sydney, then New York, then back to Sydney, and then last year I moved to Carcoar, about 40 kms from where I was born. I tell you this because I've lived on three continents and in some of the biggest cities on the planet, and I have never felt more at home than I have in Carcoar.

Carcoar is a very special place. The signpost outside the village reads "The town that time forgot", and it looks like some place out of the 1940's. Everyone that goes there is instantly enchanted. In the six years that Carcoar has been on my radar (my parents moved there in 2013) the town has been host to two major feature films (the Peter Allen bio pic, and a movie starring Angelina Jolie of all people, but I can't remember the name of it). We have an annual internationally renowned running festival, an annual village show, an annual Australia Day celebration complete with period costumes. We have a pub that is just beginning to take off. We're about to open an Italian restaurant. We just got a doctor to open up a surgery two days a week. I've brought visiting international artists all the way out west to Carcoar just to show them that it exists. And everyone who comes there falls in love with it.

For me, I intend one day to open a live music venue there, once I can scrape together the cash. I commute between Sydney, where I teach at Santa Sabina College twice a week, and Carcoar, where I tutor music composition at local high schools. After almost twenty years as an artist and teacher, I have finally found the perfect place to achieve a good balance between earning an income from my talents, enjoying city life, whilst also remaining true to my country roots. Carcoar is the home I have been searching for my whole adult life.

As a professional, experienced artist, I can recognise the Carcoar/Blayney region is right on the cusp of a huge cultural boom. The locals want it. Something as basic as me lugging my keyboard across the road to the pub on a Sunday afternoon and playing unpracticed jazz standards badly is enough to get a bunch of people down there who wouldn't normally go to the pub, raising revenue for the pub and providing a space for locals to get to know each other. Out-of-town musicians pack the place out. There is definitely opportunity for enterprising artists like myself to establish businesses and employ others. And that's just one pub in one town with 175 people.

The cultural industries in NSW are booming. From Create NSW own report (which I have attached for your reference) the creative industries employ 210,00 people in NSW alone - 5% of NSW's workforce. Mining on the other hand employs 40,000 people in NSW, (again, from NSW Government's own reports, NSW Mining website). And this particular region of NSW has a long history of producing talented, professional artists of all disciplines for over a hundred years. Arts and culture is in our blood.

I am vehemently opposed to this mine for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that I know this mine will - not might, will - drastically alter the cultural appeal of the area. Tourists don't want to come to mining towns. Building this mine will - again, I repeat, not might, but will - snuff out this burgeoning industry before it has a chance to take hold and spread employment, culture, and frankly, happiness to the area.

So this is my first question to Regis: can you demonstrate that building this mine will NOT affect this industry?

My next question: can you demonstrate the proposed economic and social benefits of this mine will supersede the demonstrated economic and social benefits of the booming cultural industry in the area?

My third question: can you demonstrate the mine will do a better job of bringing isolated members of the community around Blayney and Carcoar together than this growing cultural industry?

As I mentioned, there are many reasons I am opposed to this mine, the detrimental affect it will have on my industry being my main one. However, I have to also address the single biggest issue everyone opposed to the mine is united on - water.

It seems utterly ridiculous that, while we are undergoing the worst drought in almost 20 years, a drought that if it doesn't break soon will actually become the worst drought, that a community has to prove to the NSW government that we deserve access to fresh water more than an interstate mining company with majority international shareholders has the right to come in and destroy it for financial gain. Yet here we are.

So I will say this very plainly, since there seem to be some people in the world that have trouble grasping this - if we do not have clean water, we do not eat.

This mine is on prime agricultural land, that is virtually drought-proof (I'm sure many other people will mention this, but springs are strange things that will run even when everything else is dry, and messing around with them by plugging them up with concrete (I mean, come on, what?!) is utterly insane). Farmers grow our food. They need good land with fresh water. And here it is. Right on Kings Plain. It's rare. And now Regis will come in and destroy that for a measly 4000 oz of gold. They will poison the land, the water, blow asbestos through the air, destroy generations of farming families' livelihoods and leave future generations with the responsibility of managing their mess so that they can get rich.

And since I know for a fact that many other people will articulate specific concerns about water in other submissions, I will instead ask Regis this: how can you possibly live with yourselves, knowing what you are doing? Don't get me wrong, I fully expect this question will be ignored. You can't quantify ethics or do a pie chart on how moral something is. But someone at Regis knows this stinks, and is just thinking about the big juicy profit they can make from destroying our land and our culture. And I am positive that someone in the NSW government tasked with the responsibility of deciding whether or not this mine should go ahead will recognise that this whole project stinks too.

I am vehemently opposed to this mine. I implore you - do not let this go ahead.

I don't want the mine because its a waste of great farming country and the mine is taking it for pathetic use. The amount of water and dust that will come from this mine will be stupid and pathetic. You want to take our land for pathetic city slickers because they want gold rings and jewellery. Also the fact that Carcoar Dam is a great place to go skiing and its great water and you could ruin this. Even worse you will kill the animals that live on the mine site. I think you make out your the good guys but really you are bad baddies.

My comments are attached.

I have lived and worked in the Blayney-Bathurst-Orange area for over 40 years and have seen the benefits of mining first-hand in the region. Having been involved in assessment and management of mining projects I can attest to the rigour that such projects undergo through the application process and in operations and note that obligations on mining companies continues to increase.

The Central West of NSW has been a focus of mining since the 1800s and the opportunity remains for mining to continue as a major economic driver. Mining is identified as one of the top three economic opportunities for Blayney Local Government Area (LGA) in the Department's Central West and Orana Regional Plan 2036 together with agribusiness and transport/logistics. The McPhillamys Gold Project is an appropriate project to realise such opportunities.

Opposition to mining projects in the Central West invariably focuses on emotive issues of water and agriculture. The McPhillamys Gold Project significantly reduces its impact on local water resources by transferring industrial quality water to the mine from near Lithgow/Wallerawang. A 90km pipeline has potential to provide benefits to the region in perpetuity.

The project has also evolved to reduce its effects on agricultural land in both the short and long term through its site layout and in the proposed rehabilitation and closure as indicated in the project's EIS. From the EIS (Figure 5.5) the area to be disturbed by the proposed mining activities would affect about 40% of Regis landholdings and less than half of the project area allowing agricultural practices to continue during operations. At mine closure the land will be returned to a "landscape that permits the land use of livestock grazing on improved pasture, whilst also enhancing biodiversity values lost due to past agricultural clearing" (EIS section 22.2.)

Agricultural practices have been recognised as contributing to downstream impacts in the Central West rural landscape. The WaterNSW website (https://www.waternsw.com.au/water-quality/algae/prevention-and-control#stay ) on algae prevention and control identifies that nutrification of waterways and storages may occur as a result of agricultural fertilisers, manure and direct stock effects of damage to stream banks. The Carcoar Dam artificial wetlands downstream of the project area are highlighted as an example of a nutrient sink to prevent the inflow of nutrients into the storage which suggests a degraded catchment. Landscape enhancements with the McPhillamys project area have the potential to redress some impacts from previous land use practices. Mining and agriculture do co-exist in NSW, and the plans for McPhillamys provides for this.

The project recognises a range of local impacts and endeavours to address these through various measures. The project assessment process allows for these matters to be ventilated in order that the project can proceed in a manner that meets reasonable expectations and standards.

At the commencement of this submission I mentioned first-hand experience in mining. I entered mining employment in middle age. My son, who grew up in this area, has been fortunate to achieve local support to follow a mining career and has returned to a full time mining position in the area. The McPhillamys Gold Project will provide opportunities for employment and career development for people of all ages from the local area and will be undertaken in an environmentally responsible manner.

I support the McPhillamys Gold Project

Please see attached

Please see attached

I would like to make a positive submission for the McPhillamys Gold Project

The McPhillamy project will unquestionably contribute and benefit the Blayney LGA , as well as the broader Central West.
Having been born in Blayney I have witnessed the decline of the town over the years with industry and commerce leaving the area for various reasons, but mainly for lack of sufficient employment opportunities for our young people.
I left the area in search of work in the late nineties after the closure of the local meat works and subsequent closure of a local mining operation, only returning when the opportunity arose to work for a locally based exploration company. Then I ended up working overseas as the Company changed its focus to offshore exploration.
Both of my daughters and their families live locally and have worked in mining. They currently have (part-time) work in the hospitality industry and are hoping to secure a permanent job, as do many in the area, when Regis begins operating.
Providing jobs for Blayney and our district is vital to the future of us all.
Direct and indirect employment numbers quoted in the EIS are 1289 new jobs during construction and 788 during subsequent operations !
The flow-on injection of new business opportunities for Blayney and surrounding districts cannot be overstated.
There are many other advantages:
• with habitat creation through Biodiversity stewardship sites.
• Significant income to council through the Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA)
• Pipeline bringing operational water requirements with capacity for over 15ML per day, positive legacy for the future of the district.
• Site rehabilitation end of mine back to productive farming land
• minimal reduction in river flows into Carcoar dam, falling back to less than 1% after rehabilitation
• local operational workforce not FIFO
• Regis already contributing to Blayney with employment, supporting local businesses and sporting clubs through sponsorship and local spending.
An excellent additional environmental and community benefit to us all is the ability to improve the current poor condition of the Belubula River through the Voluntary Planning Agreement with our Local Council. This combines the support from Regis Resources who have continually shown themselves to be an exceptional corporate citizen with the motive and the desire to work with our community to mutual benefit.

Please see attached

I spent time living in the Bathurst area while doing Environmental Science at uni in the early 80's. I now farm in Condobolin. We are looking to relocate to the Bathurst/Orange area. My parents lived in Orange for many years. To drive through the area now, the site of the proposed mine and it's surrounds are undoubtedly the greenest and most picturesque. It is a beautiful area. The Orange/Bathurst area is one that is gearing up with new hospitals, new rural doctor training programs at Charles Sturt,the move of DPI to new premises in the centre of town, building developments at areas including Kelso and North Orange,road upgrades, the bullet train and XPT services to Sydney and bus services directly to Sydney airport and excellent, affordable air services from Bathurst, Orange and Parkes to Sydney. It is dealing with the spill over from Sydney's expanding population. These facilities along with the growing wine and food industry and the related events that bring people flocking to the area like Food Week and Wine Week make it such an outstanding alternative to Sydney. Finally we have some willing participants in decentralisation. To damage the attractiveness of the area and threaten the valuable water sources with contamination is nothing short of ludicrous and short sighted. We now have to rethink our future plans