Bowdens Silver

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I believe this state significant project would greatly benefit NSW and its local economy, with silver price increasing and current COVID-19 situation, the project would be a much needed boost to local jobs for many years to come

I request this silver mining project be reconsidered and permission denied on the following grounds. There is compelling information, evidence that the Bowdens Silver mine proposal does not disclose the consequent level of lead that will:
1. Contaminate water sources to the community of Lue
2. The levels of lead will be within the range deemed toxic
3. The resultant yield of silver will be small relative to the risk to the community
4. Lead is detrimental to brain development of children
Our children, our healthy communities are out future. Yours too.
Yours faithfully,
Susanne Weress,
Clinical pharmacist

I strongly object to the Bowdens project.
Please see the attachment below.

A valuable contribution to local community

The Bowdens Silver mine project has divided the community into those that live adjacent to the mine and don't wish to have their lifestyles disrupted and are concerned about the environment, and those that wish employment in these difficult times.
This is no doubt of special concern during this period of the Covid 19 pandemic and beyond.
I sympathise with those that have employment now with Bowdens (and hope to continue to be employed) and those that can see the potential of employment during the construction period and when the mine is in operation.
However, they do not live at 44 Powells Rd Lue.
My residence is 1.2 kilometres from the administration building, and approximately two kilometres from the mine site.
My property shares a boundary on the northern and western side with Bowdens Silver.
Listed below are concerns I have, as a resident living in direct line of site with the mine.
Dust - Potential to effect daily living. Potential to settle on roof of residence and sheds and pollute water in rain water tanks. Effect on pastures.
Noise - Effected daily living during development, and likely to be the same if not a higher volume during construction and mining stages.
Water - Use of groundwater for mining operations has the potential to lower water level of bore.
Tailings Dam - Can dam be guaranteed not to leach into groundwater? Will there be regular official inspections?
Lead will be extracted with the silver - can it be guaranteed the lead will not effect local residents?
Proximity of Lue Village residents.
Proximity of Lue School.
Likely pollution of Hawkins creek and Lawson creek which enters the Cudgegong river at Mudgee.

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My name is Kate McKittrick and I live nearby to the proposed Bowdens Silver Mine in Lue, New South Wales. I objected to this proposal for a number of personal reasons.

1. Health – I recently suffered a significant life threatening illness. I have respiratory issues and severe eye damage and it has been recommended that I live and work in a relatively dust free environment. Lead is a cumulative toxicant that affects multiple body systems. I am scared at the possibilities of what the lead and dust will do to my ongoing health issues.

2. Roads - we travel the Lue Road to get to town most days. The road is in extremely poor condition and dangerous at the best of times. We have three teenage children all learning to drive on this road and we do not want to see a massive increase in traffic, let alone the addition of large trucks and the risks associated with the movement of explosives and oxidising agents being transported along the same route. There is no way of avoiding the traffic flow into the mine.

3. Water – we rely very heavily on water from the Lawson Creek for our home and garden. The water level in Lawson Creek will drop by one metre rendering much of the Creek dry for users. Bowdens Mine will use more water from the Lawson Creek catchment than all current users combined. Ground water levels on the mine site will drop by 25 metres and the open cut pit will continue to draw on ground water for up to 100 years after the mine has been abandoned.

4. Planning - Bowdens does not offer a suitable plan for rehabilitation of the mine. When the mine closes the tailings dam and all the PAF will remain forever. As residents of the area we will feel the impacts long after the mine has closed.

I believe this project is another grasp at destroying a beautiful area in order to make money. Our world cannot sustain this constant selfishness. You are looking to mine a mere 2km from a school. This cannot proceed. You have also stated that the whole won’t even be filled in when works are completed. There is no benefit to the surrounding area, economically, as I am sure workers would commute as they do now from Mudgee or Gulgong areas. You are destroying another piece of the world for money, and this cannot happen again.

The Bowdens Silver project is an exciting development in the Australian Mining Sector. Silver is a strategic asset as it is used in thousands of applications and our modern world and economy could not exist without it. Quite a lot of the world's silver production comes out of jurisdictions which are politically unstable and these assets are exposed to problems such as cartels and nationalization. Silver demand will continue to rise and so will the price. This world class deposit will provide much needed foreign revenue and jobs for the Australian economy. It would be a big waste not to develop it.
Regards
Robert Toumbos.

Bowdens Silver
Appliction Number: SSD-5765
I wish to express my support for this development for its economic benefits both locally and nationally.

This project will bring jobs to the local community with long mine life, there will be long term employment.
One of the only silver focused mines in Australia this will be a big bonus in the next 5 years. Good management team can be trusted to look after the environment.

I am deeply concerned about the impacts from the potential Bowdens Silver and Lead Mine.
As a land owner who owns a farming property on the Cudgegong River, and I am deeply concerned about the significant amount of water required to operate the mine, and the way any pollutants entering the water catchment could have on my cropping and cattle enterprise. I am extremely concerned about impacts from dust and associated metals on drinking water supplies, livestock and aquatic environments.
The large amount of toxic material being processed at the mine – including lead, cyanide, cadmium and arsenic would be extremely detrimental to fragile ecosystems and the water catchment if this mine is allowed to go ahead.
We have just battled many years of drought, and the huge water requirement by the mine would undoubtably put further pressure on the area’s water table.
I am also deeply concerned that this important ecological and historic region will be threatened by the open-cut mine. Just last week I visited the region of Havilah and Dunns Swamp, and was blown away by its beauty, its rich agricultural lands and historical significance.
Other points of concern include the following:

• The proximity of tailings storage dam to Lawsons Creek, and the real potential for dangerous chemicals to leach into the creek and on to Cudgegong River.

• The fact the mine is to operate in close proximity to a public school, included as a sensitive receiver of mine pollutants (from its rooftop water supply) and traffic fumes, in addition to noise pollutants.

• My son, who has the chronic health condition of cystic fibrosis, is particularly vulnerable to increased dust particles in the air. He often visits nearby property Havilah, which will be negatively affected by increased dust in the airways. This mine would put him, and many others, in a critical danger.

• The destruction of local wetlands and waterholes caused by the proponent’s annual water use, which their own surveys estimate will reduce groundwater levels by 25 metres at the site.

• The destruction of known habitat for endangered species, including the Regent Honeyeater, Koala, Box-Gum Woodland, Ausfeld’s Wattle and Squirrel Glider.

• The social impact on local residents in Lue, Rylstone and Mudgee, and the regions dependence on tourism, which would be directly affected by the toxic, polluting mine, increased traffic and pollutants in a major tourism destination.

• The insufficient consideration of and consultation with traditional owners of the land, including Wiradjuri and Gallanggabang peoples. Part 13 of the proponent’s specialist consultant study details claims from several Aboriginal Land Councils that Bowdens Silver has not provided adequate planning documents, reports, or opportunities for real consultation about the mine proposal.

Given these specific concerns, I urge the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to refuse Bowdens Silver Pty Ltd’s application SSD-5765 on the basis of its clear unsuitability due to ecological and cultural concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Sally Killoran

I think the project is vital as part of NSW's recovery from the financial impact of COVID 19. It will also provide more jobs, which is dearly needed at present.

Bowden's Silver Project at Lue NSW

I am a frequent visitor to this beautiful region where I cover many stories of regional agricultural innovation as a journalist.

When I think of this region I think of regenerative farming. I have interviewed brilliant First nations water keepers and sensitive farmers who are working now with very variable seasons. I have also seen perfectly viable little towns like Wollar turned into a company town of ghosts despite resolute citizens presenting you with all the reasons why the mine was producing a damaging product and causing the death of a community.

As we diversify in the regions do not let Lue lose all its amenity and its future.

Water

In my opinion, water is creating tensions in the region as climate change is drying out eastern Australia.

I have reported on regenerative farming and water conservation and know that there is high anxiety around water. Before my Mudgee friends and contacts even say hello they tell me how many mls they have had recently. City people are not so in touch with the scarcity of natural resources and I hope you can walk a mile in the shoes of local Lue people. The Traditional Owners called this place Lue because it means a chain of water holes fed by groundwater. Bowdens admits that it will reduce the water table by 25metres onsite. How can that ever be restored?

They say they will pipe water from the Goulburn but that water is needed in the Goulburn and they have made no provision for drought times.

At this point in history we cannot have a project which will take 2050 megalitres of water per annum away from the rivers.
Neither can we have the Lawson's creek valley and Mudgee river system polluted by this company which has never made or operated a mine before. I wish Henry Lawson, a local, was here to find the story that would cut through to you.

Biodiversity

The wildlife cannot speak for itself ,but if local people are dreading the blasting and sounds of trucks moving 8,300 tonnes of ore 24/7 and the justifiable fear of lead contamination makes Lue locals fear for their children, whose school will be only 2kms from the blasting, it is obvious the wildlife will be threatened and disturbed in a way that no one seems accountable for. We have just lost a billion wild creatures in the mega bushfires. Now every life and every drop of water is precious.

Mining silver, lead and zinc will have an unjustifiable impact on our environment. It will cause erosion, contamination of precious groundwater and threaten biodiversity. My experience in South American visiting one of the fabled silver mines at Potosi shows that the damage lasts for many generations afterwards. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0048969794901775

I recommend that you do not approve this project. The people of Lue and the region, like many communities in South America have future generations, biodiversity and the health of our precious underground and river water front of mind. They are the true patriots.

Do not allow short term profits for Bowden's sway your sense of deep accountability to the community and to nature. It would be unconscionable if you thought that Planning NSW could override local objections and rob the regional farms and biodiversity of reliable water..

Kind regards
Vivien Langford

25 Comber St
Paddington NSW 2021
Tel: 0424896481

Mercury pollution from the past mining of gold and silver in the Americas
The development of the patio amalgamation process into an industrial scale operation in 1554 stimulated the massive production of silver in the New Wo…
www.sciencedirect.com

Please refer to attached submission.

I object to the Bowdens Silver project due to my concerns about the potential negative impact of this proposal on our underground water supply, noise, dust, increased traffic and light pollution. The project is located less than two kilometres from our home and primary production enterprise. We rely heavily upon our bore water supply for livestock and domestic use and we are very concerned this will be damaged or drained by the mine operation. The dust, which we believe will contain lead - will negatively affect our pasture and we are concerned about increased lead levels in our livestock as well as our own health. The EIS indicates significant amounts of traffic movements along the relocated Maloneys Road which will cause problems for us in accessing the road to Mudgee. The noise from both the mining and the processing plant - which is located towards our direction is also of great concern.
While I note in the EIS that the mine project believe they will make good any damage, replacing our water supply would be extremely difficult. I am worried that their promises of mitigation will not be achievable. I note that last week an excavator, on tracks was moved from its location on Bowdens mine country and driven along a three kilometre section of Maloneys Road. The road had only recently been graded by the council and the driving of a machine on tracks has cut up the surface of this road. Good operational practice should have been for this machine to be transported on a truck to prevent such damage.
Actions such as this have negatively affected my confidence in the management of the project.