Bowdens Silver

I OBJECT to the Bowdens Silver Mine proposal.

My name is Ben Nagel, and I’m interested in the proposed Bowden’s mine not only because of the environmental impact it will have, but also due to it’s close proximity to my family home and the townships of not only Lue but Mudgee, Rylstone, Kandos and the surrounds.


Environmental
- The mine is said to produce 95,000 tonnes of lead – a highly toxic mineral with no safe levels of exposure.
- The mine is said to require more water from the Lawson Creek catchment than all current users combined.
- Bowdens Mine will use more water from the Lawson Creek catchment than all current users combined. Even with this, the mine cannot source enough water locally so is relying on water from Ulan and/or Moolarben mines via a 58km pipeline through mostly private farmland. This supply is yet to be guaranteed, and won’t be viable when in times of drought when Ulan/Moolarben won’t be able to afford to share any of their excess water.
- Ground water levels on the mine site will drop by an estimated 25 metres. The open cut pit will continue to draw on ground water for up to a century after the mine has been abandoned.
- A highly toxic large tailings dam will be constructed less than a kilometre from Lawson Creek and will be there well after the mine has been abandoned. It will pollute our water supply forever. Tailings dams regularly fail around the world (23 in the past five years), one of which was not far away at Newcrest Mining’s Cadia Gold Mine near Orange NSW. The result would be an environmental disaster for Lawson Creek which feeds into the Cudgegong River at Mudgee. Tailings dams fail during significant rain events. There are regularly large floods in Lawson Creek which dissipate very quickly. Bowdens would be subject to the same variations and suffer the consequences of extreme rain events particularly if no second tailings dam was in place as a safety back up – which is currently not proposed.
- Bowdens does not offer a suitable plan for rehabilitation of the mine. When the mine closes the tailings dam and all the other environmental damage will remain forever.
- 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. These waste dumps will most likely leach into our water table and the surrounding catchment.
- The mine covers areas habituated by koalas and Regent Honeyeater. It is also has Grey Box Grassy Woodland which will be destroyed by the mine.


Health
- A cyanide processing plant will operate on site. Need I say more.
- As mentioned above, the mine is said to produce 95,000 tonnes of lead – a highly toxic mineral with no safe levels of exposure. Particularly for school children studying only 2km away.


Economic
- The maths just doesn’t add up. Assumed silver price in the EIS is US$20.91/oz. However, over the past 6 years the price of silver has never reached this level and if production costs increase, the mine will be even less viable. A financially unviable mine represents an even greater threat as they may look for ways to cut corners which could affect safety.


Tourism/Livelihood
- It’s proposed that the mine will be in operation 24/7 with little to no downtime, and with mine blasting allowed for six of those days. Who in their right mind would be able to live nearby, or want to visit a region with that going on? A huge proportion of Mudgee regions economic livelihood comes from tourism – to lose that would be the end of the area.
- The already poorly maintained narrow road between Lue and Mudgee is now set to have 227,000 tonnes of ore trucked along it. This poses as a safety threat for locals and tourists in the area who use that road every day. Bowden’s will need to include a plan / funding if they want any chance of safely using this road.



I OBJECT to the Bowden’s Silver Mine Proposal (Project SSD-5765) and believe the Project should be REJECTED.


Thank you for taking my submission into consideration.

Impact on the local water supply / usage
Impact on local business (dust etc from mining )
Impact on views of the local mountains
Impact on resale values on land .
Impact on local wildlife .
Visually unattractive to see and hear .

Not fully realising the importance of silver as a commodity. It's certainly not worth much.
1. The impact on the environment is the worst thing of course.
2. To disrupt such a beautiful place as Lue and It's relatively small amount of residents. Never to return to normality within a generation, is unforgivable. Just for commercial gain. As usual.

The proposed mine will have an unreliable water supply

The mine will have to shut down during droughts

I am concerned that the proposed mine will put severe stress on Lawsons Creeks and the families and farms that currently rely on Lawsons Creek as a water source.

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.  

Bowdens Mine proposes to transfer water licences from further down the Macquarie catchment as well from the Sydney basin catchment,  further depleting Lawson Creek

Lead is poisonous for Lue

Thank you for this opportunity to make a submission with respect to the proposed Bowdens Silver project.
I object to the proposal.
My submission is attached.
CRAIG SHAW

I wish to register my wider concerns about the planned lead/silver mine at Lue. My wife and I live in Mudgee - a pristine and beautiful town that formed in the early 1800’s because of the Cudgegong River that supplied clean water and the rich soils surrounding the town that supplied wealth derived from agriculture.
Before moving to Mudgee in 2013 we lived on a 600ha grazing property 10kms east of Lue by road for 28 years. The property had a 1km frontage to Lawson Creek - a water source easily underrated because it appeared to stop flowing but which had a number of beautiful water holes that never dried up. In the time we spent at Wonga as the property was known, these water holes were shared by all kinds of local fauna as well as our sheep and cattle. There were always fish & tortoises in these holes too. Our children loved swimming in them but it was always unpleasant because of the leaches they had to flick off their bleeding legs if they stayed in for too long.
The water that runs past our old property travels westwards on a journey that has contributed prosperity to many towns and millions of hectares of productive country in the central west and western plains of NSW.
This mine proposal is just too close to the vast catchment area that Lawson Creek is part of. I just can’t imagine how the risks this mine poses to the catchment can ever be properly addressed.
At some point, we all need to walk away from this project and rejoice in what we have in this region and never let anything or anyone take it away from us.
Kind regards & thanks

Sandy Yeates

I wish to raise my objections with regard to any permissions that may be planed to give Bowdens access to open their Silver Mine.

1. During the latter time the Kandos Cement works were in business the Truck Drivers using the Lue Road made it a dangerous place to travel. They drove large vehicles like maniacs and I see no reason why Bowdens Sub Contractors will not do the same.
2. Desecration of Prime Farmland is a definite and I am sure that no explination is required from me at this time.
3. Jobs! This is a catch cry of a couple of local businesses who seem to think that more people in Rylstone will make them, the businesses, rich. In fact house rentals will rise and houses will be built to start a Rylstone Sprawl. Overpaid, Hi Vis, blockheads will make their presence unwieldly and drive locals crazy as well as diswading our much loved tourists.
4. Is the rhoumor true that Bowdens employ a Mid Westrern Council Member, as part of their Public Relations team? If this is correct would it not be a matter for the ICAC?
5. If #4 is ignored without investigation would that in itself be a matter for the ICAC?

Best Regards
Ian Simmons