"I don’t think I'd even let my enemy drink from that because I think they would die such a horrible death."
[Assoc. Professor Ian Wright, Western Sydney University, 2024]
https://youtu.be/GL9hr5fClGo?si=Z1zsTlsKLoBvt55U
On 14 May 2024 the NSW Parliament Upper House Standing Committee on State Development established the Inquiry into the beneficial and productive post-mining land use, to inquire into and report on beneficial and productive post-mining land use.
Terms of reference can be found at:
There is no reporting date listed for this particular Inquiry.
After a 53 day submission period in which 78 submissions were received, the Inquiry held 5 hearings commencing on 5 August 2024 and ending on 17 December 2024. Videos of all 6 hearings can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb7SKvfgKNwZpuRxxsmOhEvvnKeAXKzTk
Commencing on 2 July 2024 the Inquiry received 40 documents to assist in its deliberations.
In August 2024 the Standing Committee on State Development visited former mining sites in Lake Macquarie, Cessnock, Maitland and the Upper Hunter and held two public hearings (Muswellbrook & Singleton).
SOME BACKGROUND ON FORMER MINING SITES
ABC News, 16 February 2017:
More than 60,000 mines have been abandoned across Australia, according to a report that raises concerns about how land rehabilitation is managed as the mining boom ends.
Key points:
Australia Institute report finds lack of reliable data on Australia's mining activity
Research finds more than 60,000 abandoned mines across Australia
Only a handful of mines have ever been fully rehabilitated
Report raises concerns over how land rehabilitation is managed
The Australia Institute research, obtained exclusively by Lateline, said there were few reliable statistics on the state of Australia's mines and there was evidence that only a handful had ever been fully rehabilitated.
State government agencies were only able to name one example of a mine that had been fully rehabilitated and relinquished in the past 10 years — the New Wallsend coal mine in New South Wales.
Some of the abandoned mines date back to gold-rush days and the 60,000 figure includes thousands of mine "features", such as tailings dams and old mine shafts.
The Australia Institute said it was difficult to obtain basic statistics on the number of operating mines across the country, putting the figure between 460 and 2,944.
The Institute said it was even harder to get data on mines that had suspended operations or were undergoing rehabilitation.
"What is certain is [mine abandonment] is not a practice limited to distant history," the report said.
"As the owners of the largest mines come under financial pressure, close attention needs to be paid to the ongoing phenomenon of mine abandonment in Australia.".....
In New South Wales, approval has been granted for 45 massive coal pits, or voids, to be left after mining finishes. [my yellow highlighting]
Twelve of those voids are around Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter and the biggest is at BHP Billiton's Mount Arthur mine.
It is 4.5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide. BHP would not provide details on its depth....
NORTHERN NSW BACKGROUND
North Coast Voices, "Deputy Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives & MP for Cowper betrays the Clarence, 28 September 2011, excerpt:
....ongoing antimony contamination of water bodies and land protected by Environmental Planning Instruments is not unknown from previous mining ventures in northern NSW.
The Macleay Argus 2 September 2011:
HIGHER than average levels of heavy metals have been recorded in the Macleay River at Bellbrook after a dam overflowed at a gold and antimony mine near Armidale.
NSW Health and Kempsey Shire Council said higher than normal levels of metals including arsenic, zinc and copper had been detected in the waters of the Macleay River.
But both organisations said the concentration of the heavy metals was not high enough to warrant concern to people.
As a precaution NSW Health has contacted residents in the upper Macleay to inform them not to drink water from the river unless it has been processed through the Bellbrook water treatment plant.
Council has undertaken further testing to determine whether the contamination has spread beyond Bellbrook….
The Office of Heritage and Environment (OHE) reported the breach occurred on Tuesday when there was a release of material from a sediment erosion control dam at the Hillgrove antimony and gold mine.
"The mine is currently not operating but is in 'care and maintenance' mode," a spokeswoman said.
"The spill occurred after continued wet weather produced excess stormwater which exceeded the amount of water that could be stored in the dam resulting in the spill - when the mine is operating the stormwater would normally have been used for mineral processing."
NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Media Release 5 July 2010:
Straits (Hillgrove) Gold Pty Limited has been fined $50,000 and ordered to pay costs of $24,000 in the NSW Land and Environment Court today after being found guilty of polluting waters.
Straits pleaded guilty to the charge; pollution of water under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.
The company 'Straits' conducts gold and antimony mining activities at the Hillgrove Mine, near Armidale in NSW.
In sentencing today, Justice Biscoe convicted and fined Straits $50,000 and ordered it to pay the prosecutor's legal costs of $24,000.
The court heard that in April 2009 a protective bund at the premises had been lowered to allow access for an electrical contractor. When a screening device used in the mine became blocked and 'slimes' discharged and spilled into the bunded area, it then overflowed the bund and discharged into the local environment.
The spill, of up to 3000 litres of 'slimes,' contained antimony, arsenic and lead and is toxic to some aquatic life.
Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW), Director General, Lisa Corbyn said the penalty provided a timely reminder to companies that they must ensure measures are in place to contain pollution.
"This case highlights the potential for serious damage to occur and highlights the importance of companies having safeguards and operating procedures in place to control pollution at all times. Carelessness meant that simple containment structures which could have prevented the spill from leaving the mine site were not in place. Fortunately the environmental harm from this particular spill was low.
"Importantly, the company did report the spill to the DECCW Environment Line and cooperated with the DECCW officers throughout the investigation."
Anyone who sees pollution is urged to contact the Environment line on 131 555.
Bellingen Shire Council State of the Environment Report 2009-2010:
Urunga antimony processing site
A seriously contaminated site has been identified at Urunga, Portions 138 & 169 Parish of Newry. Contamination also affects adjacent Crown Land and a SEPP 14 wetland. The site was previously used for antimony ore processing, since abandoned without rehabilitation of the site. DECCW have undertaken an investigation of the site and researched remediation options.
General
Council maintains records of properties known to be affected by contamination. Council must consider the requirements of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 and State Environmental Planning Policy 55 – Remediation of Land in assessing proposed changes to the use of land.
Antimony and arsenic dispersion in the Macleay River catchment, New South Wales: a study of the environmental geochemical consequences, February 2007:
A baseline geochemical study of stream sediments and waters of the Macleay River catchment in northeastern New South Wales indicates that although most of the catchment is unaffected by anthropogenic or natural inputs of heavy metals and metalloids, the Bakers Creek - trunk Macleay-floodplain system has been strongly affected by mining-derived Sb and As. The dispersion train from the Hillgrove Sb - Au mining area to the Pacific Ocean is over 300 km in length. Ore and mineralised altered rock from Hillgrove contains vein, breccia-hosted and disseminated stibnite, arsenopyrite, pyrite and traces of gold. Historic (pre-1970) mine-waste disposal practices have resulted in high to extreme contamination of stream sediments and waters by Sb and As for ∼50 km downstream, with high Au values in the sediments…..
Estimates of sediment migration rates and amounts of Sb and As transported in suspension and solution imply that the catchment contamination will be long-term (centuries to millennia) such that environmental effects need to be ascertained and management strategies implemented…
[Ashley, P. M.; Graham, B. P.; Tighe, M. K.; Wolfenden, B. J in Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, Volume 54, Number 1, February 2007 , pp. 83-103(21)]
North Coast Voices, "NSW North Coast antimony contamination makes it onto national television", 25 October 2011, excerpt:
The Sydney Morning Herald also addressed the issue of historic and recent contamination from the Hillgrove antimony mine:
A PLUME of toxic pollution from an old antimony mine appears to have killed fish for dozens of kilometres along the Macleay River in northern NSW.....
a study published by the CSIRO in 2009 described the waterways near the mothballed mine as ''highly contaminated'' and estimated about 7000 tonnes of waste had accumulated along the bed of the Macleay River.
Water tests have shown antimony levels at 250 times background levels, with high levels detected along the river to the coast at Urunga, where the mineral was once processed for export.
