In March, the Horsham council scrapped a memorandum of understanding with mine operator WIM Resource pending a review.
Horsham Mayor Ian Ross chaired the public meeting last week and said it had been a good opportunity for councillors and council officials to hear the community’s thoughts on the mine firsthand.
“It went well. There was a lot of good discussion and good points made,” Cr Ross said.
“It was an opportunity for the community to help inform our briefing in relation to our mining licence submission.”
Cr Ross said the public shared several concerns about the proposed mine at the meeting.
“People are concerned about potential risk from dust – the risk of pollution in their rainwater tanks,” he said.
“If dust does blow off the site … they are concerned about silicosis or heavy-metal and other contamination in dust loads.
“We know from the Kanagulk mine where they said they would water the site down to stop dust, it didn’t stop the dust. When there’s a big wind event on, we know you can’t get enough water on the site to stop the dust.
“We’re told they’ll water it down, but it’s been a failed methodology at other mines and we’re really concerned.”
Cr Ross said land rehabilitation after mining operations concluded was also a topic of discussion. “We have never seen any scientific data to prove that you can restore the land – it’s all been verbal,” he said.
“They’ve said ‘we can restore it’ but to date from any of the mining companies we’ve never seen data on a properly constructed agricultural trial with controls and proper scientific rigour. ‘We feel we can’ is just not good enough.”
Cr Ross said the mine could see farming families that had occupied their land for generations displaced.
“We have a family, who have the ashes of their father … spread on one of their paddocks,” he said.
“That’s a real concern emotionally and socially. We hope that issue can be addressed – as in that area is left alone.”
Company confident
WIM Resource director of projects Michael Winternitz said the company was confident its dust-suppression methods would be effective.
“WIM will use a range of leading-practice dust suppression techniques, including water sprays, polymer stabilisers, and progressively rehabilitating disturbed areas with cover crops,” he said.
“Such methods are used effectively at numerous operating mineral sands sites across Australia.”
Mr Winternitz said other issues raised at the Dooen Hall meeting, including the use of water by the mine, were accounted for.
“On average, WIM will require approximately five megalitres per day of growth water, made available for mineral sand mining and other sectors, following a surplus of water generated by the installation of the Wimmera- Mallee Pipeline,” he said.
“GWMWater has conducted an assessment of regional water availability and infrastructure capacity to ensure that the volume allocated can be sustainably supplied without adversely affecting other users or environmental flows.
“As per its Urban and Rural Water Strategy, GWMWater has modelled future scenarios over a 50-year planning horizon to assess the medium to long-term water security for urban and rural users under a range of water demand and climate scenarios that will influence water resources.”
Mr Winternitz also disputed Cr Ross’s claim that there was no evidence to support WIM Resource’s claim that it could rehabilitate land used for mining. “WIM established a rehabilitation trial at the Avonbank mine site, which has resulted in the successful establishment of crops on mined land,” he said.
“The monitoring results from this trial were presented with the EES and were examined by a range of experts and the EES inquiry and advisory committee.”
But Cr Ross questioned whether the EES obtained by WIM Resource should remain valid, amid an ongoing investigation into whether the mine operator misled the public during its engagement campaign in 2023.
“There were concerns raised by the community about the ongoing police investigation in relation to the submissions to the EES by WIM Resource,” Cr Ross said.
“There was a strong feeling there that it’s not appropriate to give approval to a mining licence until that investigation is completed.
“If the allegations are proven, then there is an issue in relation to the approval of an EES on data that doesn’t have the rigour it should.”
The entire April 23, 2025 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
