‘Scathing’: Letter reveals new details rejecting reasons for gold mine ban

The company behind a proposed NSW gold mine has hit out at Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek for her decision to block the project.

The company behind proposals for a new $1 billion gold mine in NSW has shot down the reasons for it being railroaded, with new details revealed about the extent they went to in a bid to have the project approved.

The McPhillamys gold mine proposal, near Blayney, remains in limbo after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek used obscure Indigenous heritage laws to slap a ‘section 10’ ban on the proposed site of a tailings dam.

In a letter to Coalition environment spokesman Jonno Duniam, Regis Resources CEO Jim Beyer last week wrote 15 expert specialist heritage reports had been prepared for the site, with six expert archaeologists and anthropologists also engaged to clear the site.

Mr Beyer also hit back at claims from Ms Plibersek the company could find alternative sites to house a tailings dam.

“Regis also refutes comments by the Minister around the limited site impact of her decision,” he wrote.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is under fire for claiming Regis Resources could find alternative sites to house a tailings dam. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

He said, while the section 10 impacted about 400 hectares of the 2,500 hectare property, 665 hectares was already occupied by machinery and other sites for waste rock.

“Practically, it is not possible to utilise any of the three areas previously considered in the project site in the original 2017/18 assessment, as they all overlap the declared area,” he wrote.

The letter came before a crunch debate held on Monday evening in the Senate, where Coalition members attempted to move a disallowance motion – which would torpedo the section 10.

This specific area was not considered viable as a tailings dam because of its cultural significance. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Members were unable to reach a vote, with the motion to now be debated again on Tuesday at the earliest.

Debate in the Senate included WA Senator Slade Brockman calling for reasons for the section 10 to be released.

“Until we see that statement of reasons, quite frankly, this looks arbitrary. It looks capricious, and it looks as though it’s a Labor-Greens decision to block an extraordinary project,” he said.

Mr Duniam told The Daily Telegraph, ahead of a vote on the disallowance motion, that the letter was “nothing short of scathing”.

“It makes a mockery of the baseless and growing claims made by the Environment Minister to justify her decision that has killed this mine, 800 jobs and the remaining confidence the business community had in the Albanese Government,” he said.

Jim Beyer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Regis Resources, at The Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Ms Plibersek on Monday again defended her decision in Parliament, saying, “We’ve done all the homework we could.”

She claimed concerns over the future viability of the mine came despite leadership at Regis Resources buying thousands of shares in the company.

“Just to be very clear here, I have not blocked the gold mine. What I said (is) of this 2,500 hectare site, 400 hectares ought to be protected,” she said.