From The Coffs Coast Advocate on 24 February 2012:
AS CONCERNED residents of the Tyringham area we would like to bring to the attention of your readers some facts regarding proposed mining on the Dorrigo plateau. Anchor Resources, a 90% Chinese-owned mining company, has been doing exploratory drilling at sites on the plateau and have found gold, copper and antimony.
They are proposing to proceed with open cut/underground mines. It is important that the following points be made known.
The Dorrigo plateau has been identified as a "refuge" for native wildlife under threat from climate change (mapped in the Northern Rivers Regional Biodiversity Management Strategy, a strategy that has been adopted federally).
The Mt Hyland Nature Reserve is directly adjacent to one of the prospective sites currently under license to Anchor. These mines will be between two World Heritage areas (will our tourists share the Waterfall Way with mining trucks and swim in polluted waterfalls/rivers?)
The plateau is located in the overlap zone of the New England Tablelands and NSW North Coast bioregions. Because of this, the area contains higher biodiversity values than those typically encountered in either of the bioregions when considered individually. It is also situated at the center of the McPherson-Macleay overlap, an area that supports a mix of species from subtropical and temperate Australia. As a result of these, the region is recognised internationally as a biodiversity hotspot.
The plateau is also the catchment for the Coffs Clarence Regional Water Supply and, I believe, the Bellingen area, providing drinking water for probably more than 100,000 people. The minerals proposed to be mined result in cyanide and arsenic waste, along with other toxic substances which cannot be safely stored in ponds in one of Australia's wettest zones. Contamination of our waterways is totally unacceptable. The industry associated with the rivers (coastal fisheries, tourism) will be directly affected at huge economic losses
Financial and employment benefits to Australians from mining are minimal. Compare this to the benefits from tourism, and eco-tourism in particular.
I have a feeling we will be reassured and told of the strict, world's best standards that will be employed, and the range of safeguards Anchor will be forced to put in place. However, the same assurances were given for all the world's recent environmental disasters - Deep Water Horizon's Gulf oil spill, the Exon Valdez, and others. If you want evidence of what can happen when things go wrong with mining, New Guinea, Amazonia, and Indonesia have multiple examples.
In this region of Australia, we have unfixable pollution in the upper Macleay, Urunga Lagoon (from similar antimony), and the Mole River near Tenterfield from past mining. In more recent times we had a serious oil spill off WA a couple of years ago, the Barrier Reef was recently struck by a freighter, and I understand there have been literally hundreds of toxic spills from the uranium mining adjacent to the Kakadu World Heritage Area.
They are proposing to proceed with open cut/underground mines. It is important that the following points be made known.
The Dorrigo plateau has been identified as a "refuge" for native wildlife under threat from climate change (mapped in the Northern Rivers Regional Biodiversity Management Strategy, a strategy that has been adopted federally).
The Mt Hyland Nature Reserve is directly adjacent to one of the prospective sites currently under license to Anchor. These mines will be between two World Heritage areas (will our tourists share the Waterfall Way with mining trucks and swim in polluted waterfalls/rivers?)
The plateau is located in the overlap zone of the New England Tablelands and NSW North Coast bioregions. Because of this, the area contains higher biodiversity values than those typically encountered in either of the bioregions when considered individually. It is also situated at the center of the McPherson-Macleay overlap, an area that supports a mix of species from subtropical and temperate Australia. As a result of these, the region is recognised internationally as a biodiversity hotspot.
The plateau is also the catchment for the Coffs Clarence Regional Water Supply and, I believe, the Bellingen area, providing drinking water for probably more than 100,000 people. The minerals proposed to be mined result in cyanide and arsenic waste, along with other toxic substances which cannot be safely stored in ponds in one of Australia's wettest zones. Contamination of our waterways is totally unacceptable. The industry associated with the rivers (coastal fisheries, tourism) will be directly affected at huge economic losses
Financial and employment benefits to Australians from mining are minimal. Compare this to the benefits from tourism, and eco-tourism in particular.
I have a feeling we will be reassured and told of the strict, world's best standards that will be employed, and the range of safeguards Anchor will be forced to put in place. However, the same assurances were given for all the world's recent environmental disasters - Deep Water Horizon's Gulf oil spill, the Exon Valdez, and others. If you want evidence of what can happen when things go wrong with mining, New Guinea, Amazonia, and Indonesia have multiple examples.
In this region of Australia, we have unfixable pollution in the upper Macleay, Urunga Lagoon (from similar antimony), and the Mole River near Tenterfield from past mining. In more recent times we had a serious oil spill off WA a couple of years ago, the Barrier Reef was recently struck by a freighter, and I understand there have been literally hundreds of toxic spills from the uranium mining adjacent to the Kakadu World Heritage Area.
KATHY AND IAN REALPH
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