McPhillamys Gold Project

Division of Resources & Geoscience advice attached.

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.

• Some towns in NSW are about to run out of water. It is morally problematic, to say the least, that water has been turned into a commodity in this country rather than an essential resource to which everybody has a right and human and animal interests are considered higher than the profits of organisations.
• 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 through 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 livestock and domestic animals on neighbouring properties and could damage 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 therefore urge you to reject this proposal in its entirety.
Yours sincerely
Beth Osborne

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I have had a frightful time getting on to this website!
1 Pumping 30,000,,000 litres of salty water a day to be stored in the head trubutaries of The Belubular river A evaporation will incease the level of the salt B There are no plans for the future of the 90 km pipeline at the demise of the mine
2 There is no certainty that the salty cyanide will not leach into the Belubular. many farmers have fenced both sides of the river off with the view of allowing the usual riparian vegetation to grow,preventing erosion and preventing toxins and fertilizers getting into the water .The scheme makes a very expensive mockery of everything we have done
3 Health outcomes to humans and livestock cannot be over estimated caused by the continual presence of dust .I know speaking as one who has lived close to Newcrest.
4 Damage to buildings and infrastructure and stress to humans and animals by explosives which can be heard and felt at considerable distance away
5 There is no need for the permanent desecration of land and water for the procurement of gold 91% of which will be used as jewellery to be used and discarded The dividends go to share holders and Blayney environs will be left with just another abandoned eyesore We have seen it all before
Thank you for reading this
Anna
some of us have tried to achieve

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My submission opposing Regis Gold Mine Development includes TWO groups of objections:

- Objections part A:
breach of the NSW State Government’s Threatened Species Conservation Act.
- Objections part B:
environmental vandalism.

OBJECTION A:
I object to the Development of the McPhillamy’s Gold Mine project in its entirety because
this development is in clear breach of the NSW State Government’s Threatened Species Conservation Act.
The nature of this contravention is extreme and is not a type of contravention that is suitable for prescribed offset measures. That is, offset action is incapable of compensating for this contravention in real terms.
The contravention is summarised on pp 11-12 of the Executive Summary of the Regis EIS document, as follows:
“• removal of 132.36 ha of native vegetation and fauna habitat, of which:
- 129.3 ha comprises habitat for the Squirrel Glider, listed as Vulnerable under the BC Act listed;
- 75.77 ha comprises habitat for Koala, listed as Vulnerable under the BC Act and EPBC Act;
- 44.22 ha (PCT 1330) represents White Box Yellow Box Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland EEC listed under the BC Act; and
- 18.5ha represents White Box Yellow Box Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland and Derived Native Grasslands CEEC listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).” [Note this Commonwealth listing has the status CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ecological community.]
The removal of White Box Yellow Box Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland at the proposed mine site entails a key threatening act for the following fauna species of conservation significance supported by this woodland community:

• Aprasia parapulchella - Pink-tailed Legless Lizard
• Burhinus grallarius - Bush Stone-curlew
• Cacatua leadbeateri - Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
• Climacteris picumnus victoriae - Brown Treecreeper
• Dasyurus maculatus - Spotted-tailed Quoll
• Delma impar - Striped Legless Lizard
• Grantiella picta - Painted Honeyeater
• Hoplocephalus bitorquatus - Pale-headed Snake
• Lathamus discolor - Swift Parrot
• Lophoictinia isura - Square-tailed Kite
• Melanodryas cucullata cucullata - Hooded Robin
• Melithreptus gularis gularis - Black-chinned Honeyeater
• Neophema pulchella - Turquoise Parrot
• Ninox connivens - Barking Owl
• Petaurus norfolcensis - Squirrel Glider
• Phascolarctos cinereus - Koala
• Polytelis swainsonii - Superb Parrot
• Pomatostomus temporalis temporalis - Grey-crowned Babbler
• Pyrrholaemus sagittata - Speckled Warbler
• Saccolaimus flaviventris - Yellow-bellied Sheathtail-bat
• Stagonopleura guttata - Diamond Firetail
• Synemon plana - Golden Sun Moth
• Tyto novaehollandiae - Masked Owl
• Varanus rosenbergi - Rosenberg's Goanna
• Xanthomyza phrygia - Regent Honeyeater

Removal of this woodland community at the proposed mine site is also a key threatening act for the following plant species of conservation significance, which are likely to occur in White Box Yellow Box Blakely's Red Gum Woodland:

• Ammobium craspedioides
• Bothriochloa biloba
• Dichanthium setosum
• Discaria pubescens
• Diuris spp.
• Prasophyllum petilum
• Pterostylis spp.
• Rutidosis leptorhynchoides
• Swainsona spp.

Over 95% of White Box Yellow Box Blakely's Red Gum Woodland has been removed since European settlement of this continent. Any remaining Woodland of this type is therefore by definition remnant, and at risk of imminent extinction with dire consequences for the species that depend on it and thrive within it. To explicitly seek a development that destroys such a key biodiverse ecosystem cannot be permitted under terms prescribed by this government’s own departments and legislation, as follows:
According to the Scientific Committee appointed by the NSW Threatened Species Act: “In view of the small size of existing remnants, and the threat of further clearing, disturbance and degradation, the Scientific Committee is of the opinion that White Box Yellow Box Blakely's Red Gum Woodland is likely to become extinct in nature in New South Wales unless the circumstances and factors threatening its survival or evolutionary development cease to operate and that listing as an endangered ecological community is warranted.”
Regis Gold Mine development is a circumstance threatening the survival of this critically endangered habitat that supports a multiplicity of vulnerable and endangered and other species as listed above. This Regis Gold Mine development therefore must not be permitted to operate according to the NSW State government’s own advice from its own department of Planning, Industry and Environment.
Reference:
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/threatened-species/nsw-threatened-species-scientific-committee/determinations/final-determinations/2011-2012/white-box-yellow-box-blakelys-red-gum-woodland-minor-amendment-determination

OBJECTION B:
I object to the Regis Gold Mine proposal on the grounds of environmental vandalism in 3 areas:
- in perpetuity contamination of surface water, as described in Regis’ EIS
- in perpetuity destruction of 38 sites of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, as described in Regis’ EIS
- in perpetuity destruction of Commonwealth listed critically endangered woodland ecological community, as described in Regis’ EIS.

See attachment for objections.

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I oppose to this mine going ahead.

• 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.
• Some towns in NSW are about to run out of water. It is morally problematic, to say the least, that water has been turned into a commodity in this country rather than an essential resource to which everybody has a right and human and animal interests are considered higher than the profits of organisations.
• 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 through 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 livestock and domestic animals on neighbouring properties and could damage 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 cannot believe that with the world in its present state, pure madness like this is even being considered. Does anyone in government even have a soul?

My family and I are residents of Bathurst NSW. We are facing an extreme drought with no apparent end any time soon we are currently on extreme water restrictions to save the little remaining drinking water in the central west. Our taps will run dry by the end of 2020. My 8mth old son will likely never know what our Macquarie River looks like when it is full and running. He cannot swim and play in a child size play pool as we do not have enough water to waste. There are families in the central west that are only allowed to wash two loads of washing per week. It is an utter disgrace and the epitome of greed that it is acceptable for a gold mine to be established in our area that intends to not only destroy our local ecosystem but also use, waste and destroy the little fresh water we have left. Water is not a resource to be wasted on mining projects. No amount of jobs in our economy can clean the water that is going to be destroyed and wasted by this mining project. There are many things money can’t buy. One of them is water in a drought.