By Max Maddison and Nick O'Malley
NSW Premier Chris Minns is at loggerheads with his federal Labor colleague Tanya Plibersek over a proposed gold mine in Blayney, calling the “eleventh-hour” rejection of a key part of the project “disappointing”.
Appearing at budget estimates on Wednesday, Minns said he believed the federal environment minister’s decision to knock back the proposed location of a tailings dam for the McPhillamys project in the state’s central west had been made in error, especially given the state government had approved it.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek; Premier Chris Minns appeared at a NSW estimates hearing on Wednesday.Credit: Getty, Janie Barrett
“To be knocked over at the eleventh hour is disappointing in terms of mining gold and other critical minerals in NSW, which we desperately need because coal mining is under pressure, particularly when it comes to export markets,” he said.
Plibersek made a declaration to protect the headwaters and springs of the Belubula river, an area proposed by gold company Regis Resources to be the site of a tailing dam to store byproducts of mining operations. It would affect headwaters significant to the Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri people and related cultural practices.
The Western Australia-based company claimed Plibersek’s decision risked the future of the McPhillamys gold project, hundreds of direct jobs and about $200 million in royalties for NSW.
Minns acknowledged Plibersek’s decision could mean the $1 billion mine would not proceed. The NSW government’s assessment of the mine proposal, including the tailings dam, had been “rigorous”, Minns said.
“We believe the assessment is rigorous, and we were hopeful that that would stand up and not be subject to a reversal,” he said.
Pressed on whether he disagreed with Plibersek’s reversal under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, Minns replied: “I’ve said that many times.”
The advice of the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council (OLALC), the elected body in the region which did not regard there to be intangible Indigenous heritage, had been considered by the NSW Independent Planning Commission and was central to the decision to approve the proposed tailing dam, Minns said.
“They assessed all of the issues, all of the legislative and regulatory issues around it, and made a decision that [it] should go ahead. In large part the decision in relation to the tailings dam was taken on, my understanding is on the advice of the Orange Aboriginal Land Council,” he said.
“And under those circumstances … I think the correct judgment was made in the initial instance.”
Plibersek said on Wednesday the land council had originally opposed the whole mine project.
“In more recent times they’ve said they are neutral on the mine project, not that they are supporters,” she said.
Plibersek again backed the decision on Wednesday morning, saying she had not blocked the proposed mine, rather the location of the associated tailings dam, and that the decision was made using “business as usual” processes.
“Look, I’m not surprised that the company is trying to find the cheapest and easiest solution for their tailings dam,” she said. “That’s what companies do. That’s their responsibility to their shareholders. My job as the federal environment minister is to make sure that projects can go again in a sensible way with little or no environmental impact, and in this case, that we don’t, that we don’t ignore the cultural heritage concerns of the local Indigenous people.
“The company has said that they need to go back to the drawing board, that this could take five or 10 years. That’s just nonsense because the bulk of the project has been approved.”
Regis Resources said on Tuesday it stood by its chief executive Jim Beyer’s estimate it would take five to 10 years to develop plans and gain approval to relocate the tailings dam. NSW Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos met Beyer on Tuesday afternoon and said he had committed to continue to look for options for the mine to proceed.
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