McPhillamys Gold Project

I object to this project. As a farmer, water is my greatest concern. This project will change the Belubula River forever, in a negative way, less water, salt, dangerous chemicals etc. The companies EIS does not give any assurances and in fact explains how they will damage this valuable resource.

I object to the project for many reasons but my most serious concern is the impact of the proposed gold mine on the Belubula River.
Water is an increasingly precious and precarious resource. The location of the mine and the associated infrastructure, in particular the Tailings Dam, right on top of the actual headwaters of the river presents a totally unacceptable risk to the future security of the river water flow and quality.
The Tailings Dam has been designed with a wall/embankment to withstand a '1 in 100 year' flood. This in itself is too great a risk. The Tailings Dam is huge with a volume greater than the capacity of the downstream Carcoar Dam and it will be filled with highly toxic waste including already toxic waste water proposed to be piped from a Lithgow coal mine for use in the gold processing plant. But due to Climate Change and the fact that extreme weather events will be both more frequent and more extreme it is highly likely that a flood more serious than '1 in 100 years' will eventuate - meaning the dam wall is highly likely to fail! This risk will exist virtually 'forever' as the Tailings Dam contents will remain toxic for hundreds and hundreds of years. Even without a flood the EIS itself states that post mining there will be "some seepage from the Tailings Dam embankment into the Belubula River" and this is totally unacceptable. The Belubula River flows to the Lachlan River which in turn flows to the Murray Darling Basin system - a whole system far too important and too significant to put at any level of risk.
Water is much more important than gold. The world does need gold but there is no shortage and no need to mine THIS gold deposit for any reason other than pure financial gain to the beneficiaries.
My secondary objection relates to the supposed economic benefit to the community via job creation. The number of local hire jobs will be minimal and will only be for a 10 year period. Based on what has happened at the sites of other similar operations, it is highly likely that many existing families living on properties surrounding the mine site will leave the district and they will not be replaced for many many years, if ever, due to the degradation of the environment caused by the mine and the potential destruction of the water source. The loss of these families and their local economic input, reduction in services usage and demise of their long term community participation could well be much greater than any relatively short term increase in local jobs.
Another serious concern is the potential impact on the local apiary business who are concerned they may have to close their business. The mines' 24/7 operation with the associated dust, lights and noise is highly likely to disrupt the bees breeding, pollen and nectar collection and their flight paths, significantly endangering one of Australia's largest bee pollination businesses and one that employs twice as many locals as the EIS projected 20 additional non local hire jobs the mine might create for just 10 years.
I urge the DPIE to seriously consider the long term detrimental environmental impacts of this proposed project. Please protect our precious water sources and do not approve this mine.

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I am 13 years old, and I live with family on the Belubula river downstream of the mine site. I love playing in the river with all its natural features, like the birds and fish, frogs and tadpoles and yabbies. I love to take the dogs on walks along the river with my friends. They like to swim and catch rocks.
Putting a big toxic dam above the springs is going to contaminate the land and stop the flow of the river. This will kill the life that relies on this vital water.

I love to ride my horses Lightening and Roary around the property. The explosions will scare my horses and make it dangerous to ride.

In the summer my family and friends go water skiing and swimming at Carcoar Dam. We also love to fish and kayak here. It's great fun in the water seeing all of the boats. This mine will not only stop and contaminate Belubula river but also Carcoar Dam. Nobody will be able to stay at the caravan park because of the dangerous water.

I go to school in Bathurst. Having the mine close to the road will affect how my family travel, and others. Rocks flying from the explosions, possibly hitting cars, and dust could cause accidents, and noise will be unbearable. This will affect my schooling and I am nervous if this happens everyday along my bus route to school.

Where the mine is going there are koalas. It going to destroy the natural habitat. This is fatal for the koalas because they are nearly extinct. I have seen advertisements on the TV talking about saving the population of koalas. They are trying to save them. This is a NSW advertisement and what the mine is doing is killing the koalas!! These koalas are endangered and the mine will destroy more koalas and that should not be allowed. How would you feel if I came and destroyed your home?

People need to wake up and realise that they are about to get a huge mine in their backyard, and destroy their life in Blayney, Kings Plains and the surrounding areas. Why do we need this mine? Its just gold. I am only 13 and this project will go for 10 years but I will have to live with it for my whole like. It will never go away. It will always stay there in the river, ground, and my home town. Why do we need it?

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