A decade after Newcrest opened its gold mine the people of the central west town of Cadia are worried. And the EPA has the mine in its sights.
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.The three women sit around a wooden dining table laden with a banana cake and steaming cups of tea. The sun pours into the living room of Jann Harries’ Errowanbang home in the central west of NSW. You’d be mistaken for thinking this is a morning tea for three friends catching up, but anger not friendship brings the women together.
Some in the community believe that dust from the mine hasn’t been managed properly – allowed to drift across the region, land on people’s roofs and wash into their water tanks, drinking water and bodies. They claim there have been a range of symptoms: children have rashes, some residents say their nails have become rough, ridged and slightly deformed.Concerned residents undertook blood and urine tests with local pathologists.
“None of us can go and spray weeds and let it drift on to the neighbours,” Green says. “If we put out fox baits, we’ve got to put a sign on the gate to alert the neighbours … We’ve got a duty of care within our boundaries to not affect the neighbours. Why is the mine any different?”and issued it with a pollution prevention notice and a draft licence variation “regarding the management of emissions of dust and other pollutants”.
An honorary professor of environmental science and human health at Macquarie University, Mark Patrick Taylor, says while he understands the community’s concern, there is yet to be any cause and effect shown between possible pollution from the mine and whether it has contaminated people’s bodies.“There is no definitive evidence ... [of] the link between the mine and what is in people’s homes – there is no definitive evidence yet,” he says. “Until we can match it up, we are swinging in the dark.
“A well-designed and regulated mine can be a tremendous source of good in a community and globally for the planet.” A Newcrest spokesperson said it had heard of community members undertaking their own blood tests but had not been informed by NSW Health about these results. “Given global trends in renewable energy and other technologies, we are going to need more metals and minerals mines in NSW to meet future demand for these commodities,” he said.
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