Bowdens Silver Project
I am writing to object in the strongest possible terms to Silver Mines Ltd’s Bowdens Silver Project adjacent to the village of Lue in the Mid-western Regional Shire. It is difficult to imagine a more ill-conceived project.
Socially, it will impact both Lue, which is adjacent to the proposed mine, and Mudgee, through which the mining trucks will pass. The mine may well make Lue uninhabitable with its dust and noise pollution, and it will compromise the wine/getaway economic base of the Mudgee region.
Lue is on the most scenic road into the Mudgee region. The road is narrow and winding and ill-suited to the mine’s large Double-Bs. School, tourist and Countrylink buses use this road.
Geologically, the mine is entirely within the Lawson Creek catchment, so all runoff and leaching, which will inevitably occur, will eventually find its way into Lawson Creek and ultimately downstream into the Cudgegong, Macquarie and Murray Rivers. Just below the point where Lawson Creek enters the Cudgegong at Mudgee is the Putta Bucca Wetlands, part of the natural assets that contribute to the attractiveness of the region as a tourist destination.
Further, if there is a failure of any retaining wall, the discharge into the Lawson Creek catchment could be sudden and overwhelming. History shows that in such a case, taxpayers, not the company, will be stuck with the “re-mediation.”
The plan to pump water from the Goulburn River drainage east of the Great Divide into a catchment west of the Divide sets a bad precedent for transferring water between catchments, thereby compromising water planning that to date has been logically based on within-catchment needs.
Local sentiment is almost uniformly against this mine. It will destroy Lue and degrade the economic base and amenity of surrounding area. It will only benefit a few shareholders who live far from the area and who would object if their lives were to be affected as ours will be.
Mining has transformed the middle Hunter River Valley into a toxic open pit. There is no reason to think this project will not do the same for the Lue/Mudgee area.
This mad proposal should be stopped stone cold dead now.
Allen Greer
6 George St
Mudgee, NSW 2850
04 27 26 42 74

25 July 2020

Having reviewed the EIS I am in support of the proposed project. I have found many of the locally raised concerns to be addressed within the proposal.

Having lived for 6 years in Gaffney Street Broken Hill I am only too aware of the dangers associated with silver and lead mining. Children who were brought up in Gaffney street often displayed. These included:-
Developmental delay
Learning difficulties
Irritability
Loss of appetite
Weight loss
Sluggishness and fatigue
Abdominal pain
Vomiting
Constipation
Seizures.

I feel that the mines close proximity to Lue, and Lue Public School poses an unacceptable probability that they will be exposed to lead poisoning.
I am also concerned the acid mine drainage has not been taken into account and the high probability of pollution to Lawson Creek and subsequently the Cudgegong River and Burrendong Dam.

Please see attached document

BOWDENS SILVER MINE PROJECT – SSD-5765

To Whom It May Concern:
I would like to thank you very much for this opportunity to submit my personal views and concerns regarding the application for this project and I appreciate your time taken to read my submission and consider the impacts that this proposal will have on our local area.

I am 48 years old and happily married with two adult sons who have grown up in the outskirts of the village of Lue. I myself was born in Mudgee hospital and have a great love and respect for the Mudgee region, especially Lue.

I am a law abiding, hardworking, community minded and family loving person making a home on a small acreage on the outskirts of Lue. I don’t believe that we should need to be fighting to justify the value and love of my home and our local area. Just the proposal of this project has already begun to divide our community and is destroying the friendly, welcoming nature of the local people. Even the strong holds like the Rural Fire Service, which I have been Senior Deputy Captain of for several years, is being destroyed due to the affects this proposal has already had on our community.

Throughout my working career, I have had a vast experience with the noise, dust and vibration impacts that mining has on the surrounding local area. You can hear a D11 dozer from 5klms away, let alone from our back doorstep which is only 1.5klms from the site, of this I promise you! The affects of blasting to move large areas of rock are also detrimental to the surrounding area. Our community and in fact most of regional NSW has just been through the worst drought and fire season in my living memory. We don’t need more dust from a mine like this to make life unbearable.

In recent times we have had several meetings with a few representatives from Bowdens Silver and have been very disappointed with their lack of professionalism when presented with questions and concerns by us. They either were unable to provide us with information or just failed to give adequate responses to our concerns. When questioned regarding whether the water supply in Lawson creek would be affected, they said “we don’t envisage detrimental affects to the flows”. I have several photographs of Lawson creek at the bottom of our property that shows adequate water for stock, wildlife, fish and other native fauna survival. This was the case even through the recent drought that has been labelled as a 1 in 100-year event. My concerns are even if the water is still available for the community in our creek that it will become acidic and polluted as a result of the mining and waste rock.

I have recently spoken with employees of Ulan Coal mines and they have indicated to me that the Bowdens Silver proposal for accessing 331ML of water per year is a very pie in the sky request. They mentioned that even if given approval for this request, none of the water would be treated or filtered of the contaminants of oil, heavy metals, sediments and chemicals that are used in the extraction of coal. This has been a very mis-leading piece of information by Bowdens Silver representatives.

My wife and I regularly walk around our property which is located only 1.5klms from the proposed mine boundary and we have on numerous occasions observed native water rats and platypus in the water holes to the east of our windmill on Lawson creek. The proposal for this mine will put these native animals at risk of being able to survive. Unfortunately, if this project can proceed, I’m sure all these valuable assets of both our property and the local area will be in serious jeopardy.

I don’t believe for one minute that the Bowdens Silver representatives are being open and transparent with us or the local community. In fact, I can’t see from the proposed extraction figures that Bowdens Silver will have a silver mine as we have been led to believe. It appears to be more of a lead and zinc mine with a little amount of silver being extracted on the way. The figure of 66 million ounces of silver to be extracted sounds like a lot however this equates to 1502 tonnes of silver. The other figures are 83,000 tonnes of lead and 116,000 tonnes of zinc. I do not understand, given this information why it is being called a silver mine and not a lead or zinc mine? This appears to be another effort to mislead the community.

I respect the economic gains this project may bring in the way of employment and monetary value to the community and state revenue, especially in the time of a global pandemic and strain on our national economy however if this mine is allowed to develop and operate, I would be very concerned for the health and well-being of myself, my family and the wider community. The active mining of lead will create lead dust in the environment and it is a proven fact that there is no safe level of lead that your body can tolerate without detriment, the road impacts will be great with the increased amount of traffic and heavy vehicles travelling through our local region and the wider Mudgee area.

Once again, I thank you for this opportunity to submit my concerns and views regarding this project and appreciate your time in reviewing this.

I believe the Bowden’s Silver Mine outside of Lue should not be approved for a number of reasons. My biggest concern about the project is I do not see how it can be beneficial to the Lue and greater Mudgee communities. Mudgee is a beautiful clean region in NSW, enjoyed by locals and tourists a far. The number of tourists coming to the Mudgee region has increased substantially since the COVID 19 restrictions have been eased. I do not see how a dirty lead mine that is upstream from Mudgee’s water supply and an increased number of large trucks driving through town can be good for tourism or Mudgee’s clean green perception.
With the mine only having an expected life span of 16 years, the disadvantages and the negative impacts of the mine far out way the positive influx of jobs. This is because Mudgee will now longer have the clean green image that it once had and will severely impact the tourism industry. The benefits of the mine will only be felt by a small number of people lining their pockets. However, the booming tourism industry in Mudgee is something that everyone in the community can benefit from. For example, an olive grower selling their product at the farmers market has the ability to sell more product as more people are walking through the markets as a result of the influx of tourism.
I enjoy coming to the Mudgee region myself, however this will definitely be compromised if the Bowden’s Silver Mine goes ahead. I am a farmer by trade, and have recently experienced the severe droughts and have a very deep understanding of how far dust can travel in the right conditions. No amount of lead consumption/absorption is safe. As a result, I am not willing to potentially put my health at risk through an increase in the potential amount of lead dust in the atmosphere. I will not visit the Mudgee area if this mine goes ahead, there are plenty of beautiful places in NSW that I can visit without the risks from a lead mine.

I am writing this submission on behalf of astronomers who live, operate observatories and conduct research in the Central West of NSW. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this mine proposal. We are concerned that this mine, and specifically its lighting, should it go ahead, will contribute significantly to degrading the quality of our regional dark skies and thus threaten local, national and, international tourism to our region. Protecting our dark skies is important given that they are a major resource for attracting national and international tourists to observatories. A Gap Analysis and a Concept report have been prepared by SMA Tourism, an international tourism consulting firm. (Website: www.smatourism.com). Astro-tourism has a major potential to generate more employment over a longer term that the life of this mine and thus generate more economic benefit to the rRegion and to NSW. (See attachment.)