Aurum Pacific defends plan to reopen Gympie gold mine amid coal fears

The CEO of the company trying to resurrect Gympie’s historic gold mine said fears a proposed repeal of a blanket ban on mining exploration across the city would leave residents exposed to coal mining were baseless.

Concerns about coal seam gas extraction have been shot down by the CEO of the mining company hoping to resurrect Gympie’s historic gold mine as the fight over its future rolls on.

Aurum Pacific CEO James Crook said Tuesday the area covered by a blanket restriction on new mining exploration, and the wider Gympie block, had “no coal measures” and “there is therefore no potential for coal seam gas extraction”.

Mr Crook’s comments came amid the ongoing fight over a proposal to repeal the blanket ban on exploration in Gympie.

Public feedback on the State Government’s proposed amendment closed on Friday.

The accompanying “quick poll” on the site showed almost two-thirds of the 177 respondents were not in favour of the suggested change.

The possibility of the change leaving residents exposed if mining companies looking to explore for gas, coal or minerals in the future.

Under this proposal the existing Restricted Area 384 designation restricting any new resource exploration permits in an area covering Gympie city and its immediate surrounds would be removed.

It would be replaced by a Priority Living Area designation.

A poll attached to the State Government’s proposed amendment shows two thirds of respondents are against a possible repeal of the existing ban.

Any applicants would need to secure a resource tenement approval, an environmental authority, and Regional Interests Development Approval.

Without an RIDA the exploration could not go ahead.

The State Government page says Gympie Regional Council would not be responsible for making any decisions in relation to these approvals, which would be in the hands of the State Government.

However, the change would make the council an assessor on the RIDA application, but the final say would go to the chief executive of the State Development Department.

The council would have no say on environment or resource approvals, which would be handled by the Environment and Science Department and the Resources Minister.

Mr Crook said a resurrected gold mine would still have to adhere to “the stringent processes outlined in the Resources Act and the relevant approvals of both the Department of Resources and the Department of Environment”.

The proposed change would allow for exploration applications within the Gympie urban area, subject to State Government approval. The area affected is coloured yellow and encompasses Gympie city and the immediate surrounds.

“All of these processes require extensive public consultation, environmental impact assessments, social impact studies, safety assurances … to take place as a matter of normal course,” Mr Crook said.

Aurum Pacific holds the mining lease providing access to underground mining areas of the historic gold mine.

Mr Crook said the company hoped to create an operation that would run for more than 35 years should the mine be restarted.

He said it would have minimal impact on life on the surface and at its peak create more than 200 direct jobs.

“The mineralisation which will be targeted by the restart of the Gympie Gold Mine occurs at depths hundreds of metres below ground level – this means the operation will have minimal surface impacts from both an environmental and social (noise and disruption) standpoint,” he said.

Despite the negative vote showing on the State Government’s page, Mr Crook said the community response to Aurum’s plan “has been very positive”.

“Recent media articles have highlighted the potential use of ‘fracking’ and open-cut mining methods as well as citing intended extraction of coal and coal seam gas as part of the restart of the Gympie Gold Mine,” Mr Crook said.

“None of these play any role in Aurum Pacific’s plans to restart the Gympie Gold Mine.”