Bowdens Silver

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I believe that the project will provide a much needed boost to local employment and upskilling of people in the area. Having visited the area many times and both interested in its beautiful environment and its warm local community, I would like to see this project go ahead particularly as it is run by an Australian company. I feel that the Bowdens' silver project will not only increase employment prospects for rural youth in the area but its committed use of local businesses and suppliers has, and will grow the local economy considerably.

To Whom It May Concern,

As a Director of the Trustee for Caerleon Mudgee Trust, the landowner of Caerleon Estate in Mudgee, I can confirm that we are proud supporters of the town of Mudgee and its future growth, driven primarily by the construction and growth of nearby mines. The opportunity to continue this growth through the approval of the Bowdens Silver Project, with the support of the town’s local council, Mid-Western Regional Council, is a huge boost for the area and something many country towns can only dream of as they face declining populations, increasing unemployment and rising socio-economic problems.

Personally, Mudgee has been a big part of my family since the early 2000’s. Over the years my brother has been married in Mudgee, my family has spent many weekends in and around the town and made many trips to the incredible wineries around the area and in 2011 we started the process of identifying and then securing a large parcel of land within Mudgee which we have since rezoned to allow for the future housing supply of the town. In fact, over the next decade we hope to deliver over 2000 new homes – from standard residential houses through to rural-residential homesteads – within our Estate.

The existing mines located 25 to 45 minutes from Mudgee have proven over the years to work hand in glove with the town and its community. The mines have been successful in providing a large number of jobs to the local workforce, increasing the population by bringing outside workers and their families to the town and giving back to the community with grants and sponsorship. The opportunity to have another mine operating in the Mudgee area is something that should be embraced with both hands by the town. It will create further employment opportunities, increase the town’s population which in turn will create further employment opportunities, and increase the economic standing of the town immeasurably.

While it is obvious that a new mine will help with the continued success of Caerleon Estate as more people to the town will mean more houses are needed, the multiplier effect of an increased population with more jobs will have a huge benefit to the town as a whole. As regional areas and country towns around NSW and in fact, all of Australia, face economic hardship as populations decline, young people move away and socio-economic problems start to rise, not decline, Mudgee has an incredible opportunity to buck the trend with the approval of the Bowdens Silver Project. This new mine presents the town with the chance to continue to grow and get stronger – creating more jobs for the current population plus the future residents that are attracted to the Mudgee area. Based on research that says one mining job creates 2 or more new jobs in sub/supporting industries, the approval of this mine stands to benefit even those that don’t work in the mining industry within the township. More people in town means you will see more people employed at places like restaurants and cafes, more retail shops, more cars sold and more people in general shopping and being employed by local businesses to keep up with the increase in demand a growing population creates. All these things are a huge boost for the local economy and an incredible opportunity for the town of Mudgee and its people.

It is for this reason I am formally writing to you to support the Bowdens Silver Project on behalf of Caerleon Mudgee Pty Ltd ATF Caerleon Mudgee Trust.

Yours sincerely,
Nathan Davis
Director – Caerleon Mudgee Pty Ltd

My boyfriend's family is from the local area and they have suffered economically over recent years. This is as a result of volatile weather conditions and job opportunities being fewer due to their rural location. This project will be fantastic for the local community by offering secure jobs and providing a range of valuable skills to young people and offering a better quality of life that comes without ongoing financial concern or worry. I really support this project going ahead.

Dear Planning Submissions Team,

As a small share holder in Silver Mines Limited, and previously a regular visitor to the Mudgee area, I would like to add my support to the proposed Bowdens Silver project located near Lue in NSW.

The broader Mudgee area is a unique and beautiful regional area within NSW with a number of the towns and villages emanating the quintessential Australian ‘small town’ country charm. In my opinion these areas are being transformed, and some of the uniqueness lost, in the name of progress in our fast changing world. Having said that, it is imperative that regional Australian towns remain economically and socially viable. To this end, I believe the Bowdens Silver project will strike the necessary balance between preserving the amenity and uniqueness of the area while ensuring the survival of the region and, more broadly, secure Australia’s access to a high quality source of silver.

While there already exists a number of mines in the area, I believe the significance of the Bowdens Silver project is that it is primarily centred around the extraction of silver. Silver is essential in the development of new industrial and technological applications, not least of which is in the environmental sphere, but also significant in regards to the long history of silver as a precious metal and store of wealth. In the current uncertain economic climate, and with political tension increasing with China, I believe it is imperative that Australia has access to a high quality long term supply of silver. This is not just from the standpoint of it’s industrial application and its use in emerging technologies, but also undeniably in terms of its position as a precious metal. I appreciate that this last point may not resonate with parties depending upon their view of the mechanics of the the world economy, however I feel the strategic potential of silver to re-emerge as an economic store of wealth should not be dismissed.

I believe the successful development of the Bowdens Silver project is a matter not just of local and State importance, but more broadly a matter of significant national security. It is my opinion that Silver Mines Limited has been very thorough in developing this project to date and I remain confident that should approval be granted for construction of the proposed mine, it will be operated with appropriate sensitivity to the local community and the surrounding environment. The project has the potential to bring significant economic benefit to the region specifically, and Australia more broadly, and to this end I believe the Bowdens project should be endorsed by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment.

Kind Regards

We object to the proposal. Our objections are outlined in the attached file.

I first moved to the village of Lue when I was very young. I recently moved back because I love the peace, quiet and community spirit found here. My home is set on 5 acres where I am raising my family, keeping my pets and growing my veggies. A simple, peaceful lifestyle not readily found these days unless you move to remote areas. It is less than 2km from the proposed Bowden's Silver mine and I am extremely worried that my idyllic lifestyle is about to be shattered. Consequently I am opposed to the project for the following reasons.
*Noise.
The single biggest factor that I required when I was choosing a location to live, was quiet. Laying in on a Sunday morning all I can hear are birds. No traffic noise, no social noise, no explosions, nothing. I will not get to enjoy this pleasure if this mine goes ahead as it is a 24/7 operation and not very far away. Sleeping at all is of great concern to me as I am a light sleeper. Trucks moving through our village at all hours every single day of the week. No thank you!
*Property Value.
I am very concerned that the value of my property will plummet in the future because Lue will become an undesirable place to live because of all the issues that will come with living near an open cut mine that produces pollution of many kinds including lead dust, noise, constant vibration from blasting and trucks constantly coming and going.
*Water.
We currently use tank water in our house for drinking, showering and cooking, and have a bore for water for the horse and dogs to drink, and to water my vegetables, lawn, trees and plants. The mine is going to produce lots of dust that will be contaminated with lead. This will end up on my roof, then in my tanks and in my gardens. I do not wish to ingest lead in even the minutest amounts. I strive for a healthy lifestyle and cannot control what will end up in my body if this mine is allowed to proceed. That does not seem fair to me at all.
My bore water is beautiful. I happily drink it if I am outside working on a hot day. My horse and my gardens love it. I am immensely concerned that my bore will dry up because the mine is going to severely deplete the water table. Again, this seems incredibly unfair to me. Just because we are little doesn't mean we don't have rights. The water table should be protected to ensure its viability for future generations.
*Other.
While my main concerns are listed above, I am also concerned about the lack of proposed regeneration of the area, the poison that will affect the immediate area including cyanide usage in the plant and acid runoff , the increased truck presence on our roads which will cause damage and increase accidents, the danger to wildlife and the division of a really great little community that comes together and helps each other out.
Please, please, please do not allow this mine to go ahead. It will change the lives and livelihood's of many people in the area, and the negatives greatly out weight the positives.
Thank you for your time.

I am a beef cattle farmer living 5kms downstream from the proposed Bowdens Mine on the Lawson Creek 7km towards Mudgee by road from Lue. My family has farmed this land for five generations and our property has a 3.5km frontage to the Lawson Creek which supplies all our stock and domestic water for the property.
We operate our farm sustainably and with great care to ensure that it is not overgrazed, that as much water and nutrients are retained on our land and not washed into Lawson Creek. The drought has been extremely challenging but through careful management our land recovered quickly.
I strongly oppose the mine on a number of grounds.
1. This mine is 2 km from the Lue township and a primary school
2. The mine will produce 95000 tonnes of lead - a highly toxic mineral. There is no safe level to exposure of lead especially for children and this mine is just 2km from Lue School. The EIS underestimates community exposure levels because it doesn’t use concentrate or mine ore materials as a source of dust and it doesn’t analyse the effect of peak wind events on dust movements.
3. Bowdens will operate 24 hours a day seven days a week with blasting allowed six days a week - this is totally unacceptable and reasonable for the residents of Lue
4. A deadly cyanide plant will operate on site.
5. 227000 tonnes of ore will be trucked along the winding and narrow Lue Road through Mudgee town ship.
6. The EIS estimates the water level in Lawson Creek will drop by one metre rendering much of the Creek dry for all other users. Bowdens Mine will use more water from the Lawson Creek catchment than all current users combined. Desk top modelling is used extensively throughout the EIS, there is very little actual data. Data on flow rates within Lawson Creek have been calculated based up the Australian Water Balance Model as there are no measured stream flows in the Lawson Creek catchment.
7. Ground water levels on the mine site will drop by 25 metres. The open cut pit will continue to draw on ground water for up to 100 years after the mine has been abandoned -bores in the village will be polluted and dry.
8. The mine will produce two massive dumps of 56 million tonnes of acid forming rock and tailings (crushed ore remnants post processing) above the water table and local creek catchments of Price Creek, Hawkins Creek and Lawson Creek. 26 million tonnes of rock is PAF potentially acid forming which will be stacked over the water catchment covering 77 hectares.
9. Over 16 years to extract ore 43,700 tonnes of chemicals will be added to process the ore including 2850 tonnes of Sodium Cyanide. Many of the chemicals are toxic and will end up in the tailings dam along with 30 millions of crushed ore remnants which is 117 ha. This will sit above Lawson Creek catchment forever.
10. A highly toxic large tailings dam will be constructed less than a kilometre from Lawson Creek and will be there forever long after the mine has been abandoned - these dams have been known to fail, the result would be an environmental disaster for Lawson Creek which feeds into the Cudgegong River at Mudgee. It will pollute our water supply forever.
No information on the effectiveness of this tailings dam in containing acid water from seeping to the surrounding environment is provided in the EIS.
11. The embankment at Newcrest’s Cadia Gold Mine at Orange failed in March 2018 resulting in breakthrough of tailings material. The breakthrough was contained within a second tailings dam. Bowdens does not propose to have such a back up. The breakthrough at Cadia was caused by an earth tremor.
12. The economics of this mine do not add up. Assumed silver price in the EIS is US$10.91/oz, over the last 5 years the silver price has never reached this level and if production costs increase, the mine will be even less viable.
13. The mine cannot source enough water locally so is relying on water from Ulan or Moolarben mines via a 58km pipeline, this supply has not been guaranteed and most likely will only be available when seasons are good - in drought those mines will not have excess water.
14. 5-16 tonnes of explosives and oxidising agents will be transported along Lue Road. This is already very busy and often winding and narrow with four creek crossings.
15. Bowdens does not offer a suitable plan for rehabilitation of the mine. After sixteen years the tailings dam and all the PAF will remain forever.
16. I am particularly concerned about the Acid Mine Drainage AMD into our water table and to Lawson Creek. The Bowden EIS only mentions AMD as an issue raised by the government and the community not as an issue that applies to Bowdens. This is not true, it is a very serious issue at this mine. According to the EIS iron sulphide is the most wide-spread sulphide material found at the mine site. Once a sulphide metal deposit is opened to the air (as it would be in mining) the bacteria Acidithiobacillus lives by breaking down the sulphide minerals to sulphuric acid. I am told that this then liberates heavy metals such as zinc, copper and cadmium which are all highly toxic to aquatic life and plants. This will also raise the pH levels in streams becoming highly acidic.
Highly reputable professional journals emphasize the scale of damage and threat to our surface and ground water supplies posed by AMD. Engineers Australia (EA 2019) stated the United Nations recently labelled AMD as the second biggest problem facing the world after global warming.
17. There are three heavy metal mines in NSW with serious problems. Sunny Corner near Bathurst closed 98 years ago and AMD and heavy metal pollution continues. Captains Flat, a lead, zinc, copper, pyrite , silver and gold mine near Canberra stopped in 1962 and despite considerable government funded rehabilitation, this mine still have serious heavy metal pollution issues. Woodlawn mine near Tarago had a waste rock dump over a dam which overflowed in to a creek which was bright blue from copper carbonate. Is this to be the fate of Lawson Creek?
18. The EIS incorrectly assumes that Waste Rock Emplacement on the site containing 26 million tonnes of Potentially Acid Forming rock will not be dangerous to waterways when it leaches but will only cause the water to be dirty.
19. The Lawson Creek valley is subject to severe flooding. These impacts will be more severe when land is cleared for mining. We experienced localised rainfall measuring 225ml overnight in February 2002 after a prolonged drought. This caused a massive loss of top soil and erosion. This will happen again.
Conclusion: I strongly oppose Bowdens Mine as it poses a huge threat to our physical and mental health, our water ways and our groundwater both in terms of quality and quantity and our air quality and our farming business. A mine will have a very negative effect on the quality of life for those 192 people who live in Lue and the many more people who live on the surrounding rural properties. If Bowdens Mine project proceeds it will be an environmental disaster for the greater Mudgee region.

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