Ballarat gold mine operator admits company failed to lodge $4m rehabilitation bond with government

An Australian gold mine where a miner was killed in a partial collapse last month has admitted it failed to lodge a $4m bond for environmental rehabilitation.

An Australian gold mine where a worker died last month has admitted it failed to pay more than $4m in bonds for environmental rehabilitation.

Balmaine Gold, which owns the Ballarat Gold Mine at Mount Clear, faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to failing to lodge the bond in mid-2022.

Complicating the matter, the court was told the company had been owned by Golden Point Group since 2011 but went into voluntary administration amid financial difficulties in March last year.

Tragedy struck at the Ballarat gold mine on March 13, when a collapse killed one miner. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Ian Wilson

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action prosecutor Laura Krumins said a revised liability assessment was conducted in late 2021 to re-evaluate the cost of rehabilitating the land.

She said it was a regulatory requirement for bonds to be held by the government to ensure the taxpayer would not have to foot the bill if the mine failed.

The assessment found the mine’s liability for its “extensive” operations was $8.4m, necessitating a top-up guarantee of $4.624m since it was last assessed.

The department issued a requirement for a bank guarantee within 28 days of May 5, 2022, however the company failed to act on this.

Three directors of Golden Point were charged with the same offence — Jiajia Yao, Liang Yao and Xu Li — however, only Mr Li appeared in court and pleaded guilty.

Ms Krumins requested the allegations against Jiajia Yao and Liang Yao be decided “ex parte”, as they had not appeared on the past two occasions, but Magistrate Abigail Burchill adjourned their cases to a later date.

Ms Krumins told the court this was the first ever prosecution of it’s kind in Victoria, and called for the company to be fined to deter others.

The Ballarat gold mine at Mount Clear near Ballarat, Victoria. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Wilson

Tanya Skvortsova, representing Balmaine Gold, said the company’s “difficult financial circumstances” meant it was unable to find a bank willing to guarantee a bond.

She told the court Golden Point deposited the full amount into the department’s bank account in February 2023 before entering voluntary administration weeks later.

The company was sold by administrators by the end of the year to Victory Mineral Holdings, who took control in early March.

Within weeks, tragedy struck as Kurt Hourigan, 37, was killed and another worker, 21, was trapped underground following a partial mine collapse on March 13.

There is no connection between the death and the circumstances relating to the charge.

Twenty-eight other miners made it to a safety pod and were eventually brought to the surface uninjured.

Kurt Hourigan died after he was crushed by rock when the mine suffered a partial collapse 500m underground. Picture: Supplied

Ms Skvortsova told the court Victory Mineral Holdings had worked hard since taking control of the company to ensure it complied with the rehabilitation bond requirement.

“We are now probably weeks away from obtaining the guarantee in full,” she said.

Magistrate Burchill adjourned the case for two months to allow the company time to lodge the rehabilitation bond before sentencing.

Originally published as Ballarat gold mine operator admits company failed to lodge $4m rehabilitation bond with government