An upper house report into the current and potential impacts of gold, silver, lead and zinc mining has been criticised by the committee's own chair and Mudgee region stakeholders who are unhappy with the findings of the report.
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The report was released as part of a state parliamentary inquiry triggered by the experiences of people living at Lue who are opposed to a recently approved lead, zinc and silver mine as well as residents living near Cadia gold mine at Orange.
In a foreword by committee Committee chair and Greens MLC Dr Amanda Cohn she said she was "devastated" by the findings. Cohn acknowledged that the inquiry received a high level of engagement from the Orange, Blayney and Mudgee regions and dissented from the final report. "The perspective of directly impacted communities is important," Dr Cohn wrote.
In particular she noted that there were no recommendations to include the consideration of health impacts in assessing mining proposals.
"The government and opposition have voted together to end the Inquiry prematurely and remove significant amounts of evidence and content from the report. They've turned their back on regional communities," Dr Cohn wrote on a social media post.
This inquiry received 230 submissions and 11 supplementary submissions. Four public hearings were held including one in Mudgee. The committee also conducted site visits to the Cadia Mine and to Lue where the Bowdens mine site is located.
Gary Rush from Mudgee Region Action Group (MRAG) agreed with Dr Cohn, and said the report tries to change the narrative away from the possible human effects of mining heavy metals.
"I think the narrative from the state government with regard to the report is about the contribution mining makes to New South Wales and I think they said how it employs 29,000 people," he said.
"But this inquiry wasn't about mining, it was about heavy minerals mining and the toxicity of lead, particularly.
"MRAG and many who were involved in giving evidence to the parliamentary inquiry aren't necessarily opposed to mining - we all know... those coal mines have added to the prosperity of Mudgee and the Mudgee Region. This is a completely different prospect.
"It is all about the toxicity and the damage that lead has the potential to do to the environment, to the habitats within those environments and also the great risk to human health. Lead in any amount in any human body is not good, it's a poison and particularly in children..."
The report made 11 recommendations for the state government to consider, among them are increases to the $15,000 penalty for certain offences under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act, to run a statewide education campaign on the care and maintenance of rainwater tanks and the safe use of water and investigate the results of upcoming hair and blood tests from residents near to the Cadia mine to determine whether those results could lead to a bolstered public health response.
"Communities impacted by heavy metal mining projects will be devastated by this report which is now nothing but a political hatchet job. The Greens resoundingly reject the findings and recommendations in this report after it was sabotaged by government members intent on covering up the truth," Cate Faehrmann, NSW Greens MP and spokesperson for mining, and a member of the inquiry said.
"The Government should hang its head in shame at the way in which it has treated communities who participated in this Inquiry in the hope they would be heard and supported in the fight to protect the health of their families and local environment.
"The Committee heard a litany of evidence by experts and impacted locals about the systemic failings that had occurred in relation to the approval or operations of the Cadia gold mine, the Bowdens lead and silver mine, and the McPhillamys gold mine.
"This final report severely downplays the contamination issues experienced by members of the community who reside near Cadia gold mine. Substantial evidence was also removed from the final report regarding the significant impacts on water and biodiversity that McPhillamys gold mine and Bowdens lead and silver mine will have should they go ahead.
"This inquiry was an opportunity to make recommendations which could have led to a roadmap to improve the planning system so that the health of communities and the environment was better protected from heavy metals mining.."
"It is particularly galling that government members moved for a new finding that the regulatory bodies responsible for mining projects, and the detailed frameworks they administer, are fundamentally sound. After everything we heard, this is indefensible.
"This report fails the hundreds of impacted locals who have been fighting for years to protect their families, community and environment, from the onslaught of heavy metals mining in the state's central west. However, I want to reassure impacted communities that the fight continues to stop these mines destroying their towns, waterways and livelihoods," said Ms Faehrmann.
Bowdens Silver Project in Lue was given the go-ahead by the NSW Independent Planning Commission on, April 3, 2023. The project will have approval to operate until 2046 including its site rehabilitation phase.
The NSW government is set to respond to the report by March of 2024.
