Aurum Pacific’s plans to revive Gympie Eldorado gold mine moves on

The door is open for a 500-job mine at the old Eldorado site meaning Queensland‘s gold rush city of Gympie could be known for the precious metal once again.

A major hurdle in the path of reopening Gympie’s historic gold mine has been cleared with the State Government confirming it has repealed an urban ban on exploration within the city limits.

A Department of State Development spokesman confirmed Tuesday the Urban Restricted Area designation had been removed and replaced by a new Priority Living Area proscription.

The URA was introduced in 2011 prevented any new mining exploration within the restricted area.

The proposal to change the restrictions, made following a request by Gympie Regional Council, sparked backlash within the community amid fears it would leave homeowners vulnerable to mining companies.

Concerns the plan would also allow coal exploration were rejected by Aurum CEO James Crook in December 2021.

Aurum Pacific executive director Scott Dodd announced the company’s plans to restart the iconic Gympie gold mine in March 2020, provided a ban on new mining exploration applications was removed by the State Government. The ban was repealed by the State this yea

Under the new rules mining companies will be able to make exploration submissions, subject to approval under the Environmental Protection Act and the Mineral Resources Act.

Gympie Regional Council is now one of the assessors on any new applications.

“Applications for a RIDA (regional interests development approval) in the PLA must be publicly notified and public submissions sought, unless it is deemed exempt,” the DSD spokesman said.

Gympie’s Eldorado gold mine, located about 5km south of Gympie, was shut in 2008.

The company behind its attempted resurrection, Aurum Pacific, flagged its intention to reopen the mine in early 2020.

A key question still to be answered is how the mine will be accessed; the original entry point exists on land owned by another company and was in the process of being rehabilitated.

Mr Crook said the company was exploring “a number of potential options”.

New Gympie Gold’s latest mining application is to change the surface area of the mine, with Aurum Pacific saying the change if approved would “minimise community disruption”.

He said an application to alter the mine’s surface area, lodged in October 2021, was unrelated to resolving this and was only “in order to minimise community disruption”.

“The current surface area is situated on privately-owned land, so Aurum Pacific is seeking to have this moved to enable the landowner uninterrupted use of the site,” Mr Crook said.

The company still needs an approved exploration permit before any work can start.

Mr Crook said Aurum’s subsidiary New Gympie Gold was “working through the standard application process with the Department of Resources for this permit to be granted”.

If the mine did restart Mr Crook said there would be jobs on the table.

“When Monkland was last operating at full capacity it employed around 100 people in full-time roles,” Mr Crook said.

“We would expect a similar number of permanent employees once the mine is reopened.”

The application to change the surface area is now subject to an objection period which closes on Thursday July 28, 2022.