Bowdens Silver

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Please see attached

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I strongly object to the project all all counts.
The water amendments do not satisfactorily address the issues and the effects on local agriculture will be damaging.
Nothing about this project is beneficial to those living around the mine only detrimental to their lifestyle and health.
Christine Cooney

I strongly object to Bowdens Silver project water supply proposal.

I strongly object to the development of the above mentioned mine on all grounds including the noise issue, traffic, lead pollution , value of the properties and the water issue.
Even though the proposal has amended the water issue, the other issues as far as I am concerned are still prevalent and have not been addressed satisfactorily.
What the government is proposing to allow with this mine development is totally unacceptable on all grounds including environmental.
The latest amendments re: water are totally unacceptable and false.
At the moment La Niña exists but when there are droughts (and they occur frequently), there will be no additional water .
This issue of water supply is insurmountable as far as this project is concerned.

Regards
Suzana Chandler

I object to this latest version of SVL's proposal to mine lead, silver and zinc at Lue. These are some of my reasons.


We have a registered bore with a current 50 megalitre irrigation licence which is an important part of my family's plans for the future. The company has claimed there will be no impacts on this asset. This confidence seems misplaced as there has been no monitoring of this bore since KCN inexplicably ceased the practice in 2012 and SVL holds no other information about it that they will disclose to me.



The description of a wide range of potential adverse health, well-being, environmental and economic impacts that are worrying to the community as "minimal" or "acceptable" is unscientific, imprecise and deceptive. Clearly "no health impacts of concern" means in fact the opposite of "no health impacts".

The large numbers of heavy lead trucks travelling through Mudgee and other towns will have a huge adverse effect on communities that have been kept completely unaware of the impacts of this project.

Widespread concerns about the impact of this development on its neighbours' property values are dismissed with no evidence whatsoever. Indeed an examination of the effects of other mining projects in the area on properties not purchased by a mining company would lead to a different conclusion.

Water sources and water impacts are a major component of mining developments. This is a significantly different project to the one described in the original EIS that community members, organisations and government bodies spent so much time, effort and money responding to. Now these same people and groups have only 2 weeks to examine this new proposal and respond yet again.

This latest proposal, and the fact that significant changes have been proposed at this late stage, raise further questions around the company's integrity and competence. That they could be allowed to mine lead so close to a village and school and in the catchment of Lawson Creek and the Cudgegong River defies belief.

Lawson Creek is identified in the NSW Stressed River Assessments to be in the most seriously stressed category with a high level of environmental stress as well as a high extraction rate, before the approval of this mine, therefore it should not be approved.

This mine has the potential for irreversible and permanent environmental and hydrological damage to the Lawson Creek catchment and therefore the mine should not be approved.

As a resident on the down stream area of the proposed project ,my concern on removing the pipeline from the project is that this indicates that they will use more of the natural resources from Lawson creek ,which in turn effects everyone down stream . Also with recent rain events that we have witnessed of late ,is what they are proposing to put in place adequate enough (tailings Dam) if we have such an event and all the holes line up,it will be detrimental to not only us ,but areas such as Mudgee , lake Burrendong , Macquarie marsh’s . It will be too late once the horse has bolted, please consider everything ,before giving a green light to a very big disaster.

Wellington Valley Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation and the Traditional Owners it Represents Strongly Object to this Project

I strongly object to this silver (lead) mine. I am highly sceptical that it could be operated safely leading to irreversable contamination of the land, air and water. I live downstream on Lawson Creek, and regularly see native wildlife around and in the creek, in particular platypus. It would be an enviromental catastrophe for this mine to continue. The potential damage to the waterways from Lawson Creek, into the Cudgegong River, Burrendong Dam, MacQuarrie Marshes and beyond is unthinkable.
Then there is air quality in and around Lue.
PLEASE DON'T LET IT BE OPERATIOAL!!

I wish to object strongly to the Bowdens Silver Project (SSD 5765) – Request for Water Supply Amendment.
I regularly visit my friend’s cattle grazing property at Lue (Lochiely Station, which is right on the border of the mine site) and enjoy the natural surroundings of the property and surrounding area. I consider the current proposal to be ill directed and, if approved, will be very detrimental not only to my friend's farm, but the surrounding area and its ecosystem, particularly in the current times of uncertain climate change impact.

I consider that Bowdens Silver has failed to adequately plan the supply of essential resources such as water and power for their proposed mine.
Bowden’s initial EIS submission included a 58.5km water supply pipeline from Ulan to Lue, however this supply has apparently failed because they overlooked the basic step of gaining the approval from Ulan Coalfields and relevant authorities.
Bowden’s recent request to amend the water supply, now proposing that the required water can obtained from the mining site itself reflects the same lack of planning and forethought according to the report provided to the Lue Action Group by water expert Shireen Baguley (see the points extracted from her report below).
Lawson Creek is identified in the NSW Stressed Rivers Assessment to be in the most seriously stressed category (S1) – with the highest level of environmental stress as well as a high extraction rate. Most of times I’ve seen it, the creek has been a series of water holes with no visible flow, so it seems inconceivable that the additional water needed to operate the mine could be drawn from the local landscape without seriously impacting local and downstream farmers.
Further, Bowdens attempt to ‘get by’ by recovering and recycling more water from the tailings dam and leachate dam are very likely to increase the health impacts on the local community and environment. Recovery of this water will clearly reduce the water levels in each dam, exposing more toxic elements in the soil (lead/cadmium/cyanide) to wind events, which will spread these compounds further afield.
Given Shireen Baguley’s findings, it’s clear that if this mine is approved it will often be a heavily water-challenged operation, and accordingly Bowdens will be less able to undertake dust-mitigation activities such as spraying the roads, resulting in more dust movement into the local environment, especially during dry times and droughts when dust is at its worst.
Finally, Bowdens water amendment makes clear that their groundwater licenses have been purchased in the Sydney Water Basin catchment as well as further downstream in the Murray Darling catchment. The Sydney Water catchment is clearly not relevant to western waters and the NSW government has historically indicated a preference not to move licenses upstream within the same catchment, as the water is less likely to be available high up in the catchment and will consequently disadvantage local people and farmers reliant on that water.
Points extracted from Shireen Baguley’s report include:
• “The Bowdens surface water assessment data appears to show a monthly average that exceeds 75mm over summer. This is incorrect…”
• “Many of the other months are also too high when compared to Mudgee and Rylstone rainfall statistics from BOM.”
• “The number of very low rainfall years that has been experienced in this region is not reflected in the Bowdens surface water assessment annual rainfall data”
• “The surface water assessment reports the average annual rainfall as 673 mm/a…. An average annual rainfall of 654 mm/a would be a more realistic estimate.”
• “The analysis here shows that one in every five years, the climatic conditions between Rylstone and Mudgee, which covers the proposed mine site, are semi-arid. This means that any loss of available water in these years severely impacts the land, and the people, plants and animals trying to survive on it.”
• “It is highly questionable that 740 ML/a of rainfall and runoff would be available as an ‘inflow’ in a low rainfall scenario.”
• “Further, the sensitivity analysis appears to be fundamentally flawed... It is considered that the reasons for this are that a true assessment of the low rainfall and runoff’ would show that there is insufficient water to meet the proposed mine’s water demands for an unacceptable duration.”
• “the assessment attempts to quantify the loss of water to the downstream catchment, stating there would be an average annual loss of flow of 177 ML/a. This assertion is misleading as it relates only to the estimated flow from within the ‘containment system’ and overlooks the fact that the water requirements for the whole project are being drawn from within Bowdens land, both that within the ‘containment system’ as well as the Bowdens’ contiguous land holdings. The mean annual flow is 1,955 ML/a comprised of 965 ML/a surface water and 990 ML/a ground water.”
• “…this would equate to a loss of flow from 10.9% of the Lawsons Creek catchment. It is an enormous and unsustainable impact on the water resources within this catchment and a significant impact on all land downstream of the proposed mine site”
From the time I have spent in the Lue/ Mudgee area, I consider it to be an area of important primary production - ranging from cattle and sheep grazing, important food crops and wine growing, and a native animal habitat , all of which would be put at considerable risk if the proposed mine goes ahead, particularily with the flawed water supply assessment as a basis for the project.
I strongly encourage DPIE to reassess the ‘facts’ and assumptions in Bowdens Water Supply Assessment and if confirmed to be questionable or overly optimistic to not approve progression of this mine,

The mine will be using Lawson Creek which is identified in the ‘most seriously stressed’ category of the NSW Stressed River Assessments.
The creek provides an unreliable water source for the mine.
Bowdens mine proposes to extract water from the catchment of Lawson Creek depleting and quite possibly polluting the water available to Lue and district.
The location of this mine near to a small town (which has a primary school) is just not right.

I am objecting to the proposed lead mine in Lue for many reasons.
Perhaps the most concerning is the issue of water and the negative impacts the mine will have on the water supply of our community and environment, both locally and across NSW.
I don't see the proposed water catchment ideas as viable or environmentally sustainable. I think negative effects on water flow down stream will be severe.
The Lawson Creek is deemed to be in the category of the "Most Seriously Stressed" under the NSW stressed river assesments.
How can adding to this stress in such a significant and risky way be acceptable.
Water is a precious commodity and we must manage it to the best of our abilities through all seasons, good and bad.

I appreciate the opportunity to express my concerns on the proposed mine.
The proposed mine will have a detrimental and concerning impact on the local water supply. Bowdens Mine proposes to transfer water licences from further down the Macquarie catchment as well from the Sydney basin catchment, further depleting Lawson Creek.
Given the recent droughts, we've idenitfied the importance water has on the land and we have the opportunity to prevent the impact on the water supply I feel it needs to be better thought out.

I appreciate the opportunity to express my concerns with this project as a whole.

The beauty and tranquility of this rural village and surrounds and all the farms and businesses will be directly affected by this proposed lead/mineral mine during the mine life and well beyond.