An Upper House committee will travel to Mudgee to conduct site visits and public hearings for its inquiry into current and potential impacts of gold, silver, lead and zinc mining on human health, land, air and water quality in New South Wales.
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The next hearings will be held in the Central West with a hearing set for Orange on Tuesday, October 3 and Mudgee on Wednesday, October 4.
At the inquiry's first hearing in Sydney, NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee wanted to extend the critical minerals list to include silver and gold.
Of local concern is the Bowdens Silver mine at Lue, which was approved on April 3 this year.
The Mudgee Region Action Group (MRAG) will be presenting at the local inquiry, emphasising the failings of the planning system and weak regulatory framework when approving developments with major impacts on the community without merit appeal rights for those most affected.
Janet Walk of the Mudgee Region Action Group said that the inquiry is proof that the power of those in the community can affect real change.
"I think it demonstrates that people were really not satisfied with the planning system," Ms Walk said.
"For it [Bowdens Silver Project] to be announced as an approval - really without any mention of the existing business, the thriving tourism industry, the water constraints, the faulty water modelling - that really galvanised the community to say 'no we're not accepting this' to then go to the parliamentarians, and now we have the parliamentary inquiry as a result.
"It's demonstrated that the community together can actually affect action to say 'no, no we're not accepting that' and that's a positive thing that it's come about..."
"We have to have the discussion. If we have 16 metals mines opening up, what does that mean for our water?"
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"In a world that is getting further and further water constrained, in a country that's one of the driest on the planet... It's not exponential water It doesn't last forever. And the other aspect of metals mining is the contamination of water and with leachate going into our inland river systems...," Ms Walk said.
A previous hearing at NSW Parliament House focused largely on Cadia gold mine near Orange. Managing Director Mick Dewar was questioned under oath.
Links between dust from Cadia and lead identified in drinking water and blood tests is under investigation by the NSW Environmental Protection Agency. Newcrest has consistently denied any connection.
A spokesperson for Bowdens Silver told the Mudgee Guardian in June that a number of independent risk assessments determined that the mine would not pose any risk to residents.
"Bowdens Silver has undertaken a rigorous assessment process that has been underway since 2016 and involved extensive community consultation over that seven-year period," the spokesperson said.
"As part of the assessment process, Bowdens completed an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) including a Human Health Risk Assessment that involved an extensive evaluation of potential exposure through a number of different pathways.
"Importantly, this assessment was independently peer-reviewed and then subsequently independently peer reviewed again by the NSW Department of Planning's (DPE) own consultants," the spokesperson said.
"Furthermore, government agencies such as the NSW Environment Protection Authority and NSW Health also assessed. The outcomes of all these reviews and assessments concluded that the Project presents no health risks (caused by lead or other factors) to the community.
Anthony McClure, Managing Director - Silver Mines Limited said in a letter published in the Mudgee Guardian in June that comparisons to Cadia's contamination issues was illogical.
'They are two different minerals that are extracted by completely different mining and processing methodologies that generate completely different outcomes. It's just wrong to conflate the two," Mr McClure wrote.
