In this election year McPhillamys Mine and tailings dam is on the Nannas radar as it has become a political football. A community is divided and the environment is screaming for help. Nanna Anne goes to investigate…
I wanted to see this controversial mine and dam site, which threatens all we Nannas try and protect for future generations: the air, water and land. I asked Bathurst Nanna Steph to take me on a tour of the proposed mine and dam sites at the headwaters of Belubula River in the Blayney-Georges Plains area of NSW. The Belubula River flows into the Lachlan River.
The mine is owned by Regis Resources and if it goes ahead more than 60m tonnes of ore will be extracted and 2m ounces of gold will be produced over its 11-year lifespan. Exploration of the site has been going on for years. In the 1990s exploration was halted due to a landowner withholding permission to access. Since then, the licence has passed through a number of companies.
Steph introduced me to Bec and David Price, local fourth-generation farmers who live below the proposed dam wall. They, with many other locals and traditional owners, have been fighting this proposed mine and dam for over 6 years. ‘We thought it would be a sprint, but it has turned into a marathon’, Bec said.
The proposed site
Map of McPhillamys Gold Project from Regis Resources Environmental Impact Statement
The red line in the photo shows where the McPhillamys dam wall would go, flooding the whole valley. The photo does not show the true scale of this project, as the tailings dam would cover 400ha of the 2,500ha site.
Around this dam there would be eight processing towers that extract the gold using cyanide. As the gold floats to the top, it exposes all the ore, which includes lead, mercury and molybdenum. This would be pumped into the tailings dam along with wastewater from the Centennial Coal Mine and the brine from the Mount Piper Power Plant both near Lithgow (90km away). All this toxic water would then sit in this tailings dam.
The red striped area will all be water if this project goes ahead.
It is a pivotal piece of country, as this is the headwaters of the Belubula and Lachlan Rivers.
Regis Resources have documented in their own Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that between the forest and the proposed dam wall there are 26 seeps and springs. These seeps charge the rivers and become most important in periods of no rainfall.
Gold does not appear on the NSW Critical Minerals List. However, local propaganda included the importance of gold in dental material and phone technology. Most of Regis’ gold is exported.
Community impact
The mine and tailings dam will affect many local businesses, including farms and tourism. Vicki Lockwood, of the Beekeepers Inn, owns one of the biggest queen bee producing operation in the southern hemisphere. The Inn is situated two kilometres to the north of the mine site. The bees need clean water and a differentiated day and night (i.e. not 24 hours of light). “This small tourism business has 40 employees, nearly the same number as the mine will have when it is up and running.” Bec said.
In the small village of Kings Plains, there are about 20 houses, all are just across the road from McPhillamys Hill, the mine site.
The circled hill on this photo is where the mine will be generating noise, dust and light 24/7. ‘Mitigation’ has been offered to the owners by the company: double-glazed windows and the addition of a back room.
Many of the farms have been bought by the company. These houses and farms stand empty, as people have moved out of the area.
Approvals Process
Locals spent two years preparing submissions to the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) hearing. “We knew trying to stop the mine was futile. We worked on getting really strict conditions. We paid experts to work out how to minimise all that the mine owners were wanting to do and together we produced a thick document supporting these conditions. We all spoke at the IPC hearing. In March 2023 the IPC gave the mine the green light and they didn’t take on one of our conditions”, said Bec.
“We were successful in prolonging their process, and knew they would have been up and running years ago if we hadn’t confronted them at every turn. Even when it got the green light, we knew it was at least 18 months before they would get all their approvals. And, in the background, we also knew the Section 10 was still lurking.”, said Bec. “The Liberal Party refused to act. The Labor Party were slow to act, but did eventually.”
In August 2024, Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, initiated a Section 10 declaration over the McPhillamys Gold Project in Blayney.
Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 attempts to prevent areas of Indigenous Heritage from being ‘injured or desecrated’ by its use. The Act states an area will be deemed as such ‘if passage through or over, or entry upon, the area by any person occurs in a manner inconsistent with Aboriginal tradition.’
“After the Section 10 was announced, it felt like the first win we had had. We were all feeling good, an old guy who lived opposite, his health improved.” David said.
But, then the journalists from the Murdoch Press (Sky, Telegraph) arrived. “They twisted peoples’ words and left these people feeling sick, sorry and embarrassed. They crucified us and told blatant lies: promising 800 jobs when the maximum number was 250, and that was during construction. It became political and drove a wedge through our community,” Bec said.
Regis Resources launched a Federal Court Challenge to the Section 10 in November 2024. A date for the hearing has not been set but Sydney Nannas will be following the case in 2025.
Further information and links
Section 10
Rare order given to protect Wiradjuri sacred site from goldmine tailings dam 16/08/2024 (The Guardian)
Regis Resources launches Federal Court challenge over McPhillamys Gold protection order made by Tanya Plibersek 7/11/2024 (ABC News)
Relevant article 7/10/24 (Australian Mining Review)
Relevant article 05/12/24 (Financial Review)
Tailings dams
ABC documentary, 2021, where the pumping of brine water from Mt Piper power station in Lithgow to the tailings dam (diverting the toxic water away from the Coxs River and the Sydney water supply) is discussed. (YouTube)
Collapse of the Cadia Mine tailings dam near Orange, NSW (YouTube)
Mining at Cadia Gold Mine resumed, even though processing did not. (9 News)
Written by Nanna Anne, for the Sydney Knitting Nannas and Friends, 19 December 2024