By Lauren Henry

Confusion reigned last week as Dooen landowners were told the State Government had approved Avonbank mineral sands mine.

Landowners received calls from WIM Resource, who wants to mine agricultural land 15 kilometres north of Horsham for mineral ore, telling them the mine had been approved and the government would make an announcement on Thursday.

But a State Government spokesperson yesterday said the Environmental Effects Statement, EES, was still ‘under review’.

In response to The Weekly Advertiser’s request for an interview about the landowners being told Avonbank was approved, WIM Resource director of projects Michael Winternitz said the company would ‘not be making public comment at this time’. 

WIM Resource proposes to develop the Avonbank Mineral Sands project over 3546 hectares at Dooen.

The project involves open-pit mining over 30-plus years to produce a heavy mineral concentrate containing zircon, titanium-rich mineral concentrate and rare earth products. 

The process for the EES, which assesses potential environmental impacts including measures to minimise or avoid any impacts, started last year with a project inquiry and advisory committee submitting its report by November, 2023. 

The timing of a decision and release of the report is at the discretion of Planning Minister Sonia Kilkenny.

Dean Johns, whose family owns land where the proposed mine will be located, said he answered a phone call from WIM Resource on Wednesday last week, telling him the mine had been approved and a State Government announcement was pending. 

Mr Johns said he and his family had long-held concerns about the proposal, the environmental effects on the land, and social impact on the area.

“He said the minister’s going to announce it tomorrow, which would have been Thursday. And, of course, no announcement Thursday, no announcement Friday, no announcement Monday, and it’s Tuesday, still no announcement,” he said.

Farmer Gavin Puls said he too was contacted by WIM Resource to tell him the mine had been approved – just as he was harvesting. 

Mr Puls said he had expected to be told by a minister, MP or government representative of a decision – not WIM Resource.

He said WIM Resource wanted to mine 600 acres of his property over time, which would affect his cropping land, grain facility and two houses.

“I actually asked him a few questions and he couldn’t answer many of them. I said ‘look, we’re not going to sit down as individuals, we’re going to sit down as a group and discuss this as a group’,” he said.

“He said ‘no, we want to do it so all families have got something different to add’. So, that was about the end of the phone call. I’d had enough of it.”

Member for Lowan Emma Kealy said she had contacted Ms Kilkenny and the Premier’s office, raising concerns about WIM Resource’s EES submission.

“Victoria has the most highly regulated mining framework in the country, however the confidence in this rigid mining approval and operation process is eroding due to lack of access to trustworthy and accurate information,” she said.

“Mineral sand mining can be done well, safely and provide enormous benefit to the local region, but it has to be done the right way, and our community must have confidence in the companies that will operate or on-sell these mines.

“I’m not convinced that WIM Resource have achieved the level of confidence and community trust that is expected for the operations they are planning in the region.

“The community urgently needs clarity on how the WIM Resource’s Avonbank EES submission will be handled by the government, and I have urged the government to update the community on the status of WIM Resource’s submission as soon as possible.”

The entire November 20, 2024 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!