THE clear message from the Save Our Macleay River (SOMR) workshop and forum on Saturday was “it’s time to act”.
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More than 50 people gathered at the Anglican Church Hall in Kempsey and listened to eight guest speakers.
The speakers ranged from experts on environmental law and sustainable mining and mine rehabilitation to a Dunghutti Elder, local government representatives and a best-selling author.
One of the main concerns for the SOMR committee and the speakers at the afternoon forum was the reopening of the Hillgrove Mine in the Macleay River’s upper catchment.
Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) principal solicitor Sue Higginson explained landholders only owned their land but not the minerals underneath them.
Those minerals belong to the NSW government, which grants rights for third parties to look for minerals on your land.
“Hillgrove Mine is listed in the NSW government’s Tablelands Incentive Plan as a resource of antimony and gold,” Ms Higginson said.
“The mine has a long history of non-compliance and periodically discharged contaminants into the Macleay River catchment.
“It was constructed inadequately in the first place and built at the wrong site. It is especially unsuitable for any expansion.”
The mine is to re-open early next year, with the new owner stressing all environmental requirements will be met.
Ms Higginson went on to stress the need for a strategy that involved obtaining data on water quality, what has failed at other mines in Australia, what environmental damage has occurred and what will be different at Hillgrove to ensure failures are not repeated.
Other speakers at the forum were Dunghutti elder John Kelly, Monash University expert on sustainable mining and mine rehabilitation Gavin Mudd, Kempsey councillor Betty Green, director of Public Infrastructure at Armidale Dumaresq Council David Steller and Green Party representative Carol Vernon.
The last speaker of the day was author Sharyn Munro, who talked of mining as ‘legislated looting’ and ‘industrialised invasion’ where people are just ‘collateral damage’.
For more information on SOMR go to www.saveourmacleayriver.com
