Bob Brown Foundation says drone footage shows Venture Minerals’ Riley Creek mine is abandoned

A mining company has denied it has abandoned a copper site on Tasmania’s West Coast despite drone footage showing no personnel, or equipment at the mine.

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DRONE footage taken by environmentalists appears to back their claims that Venture Minerals has packed up its iron ore mining operations at Tullah.

The Bob Brown Foundation says the drone footage was taken on Sunday and the eye in the sky failed to locate any Venture Minerals’ personnel, equipment or machinery at the Riley Creek mine site.

“A card left in the gate indicates not even maintenance contractors could find them,” the foundation said on Tuesday.

Venture Minerals

The Mercury last week asked Venture Minerals about rumours dump trucks, excavators and other equipment had been removed from the Tullah site just days after it made an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange that it had raised $2.5 million in order to ramp up mining and processing at the site.

Venture Minerals

The company said there was “no truth at all” to claims it was taking equipment away.

“Equipment is being moved around to establish the best configuration for the most efficient and economical ramp-up to steady state mining for the dry screening component of the mine,” a spokesman said.

Foundation campaign Scott Jordan said the mining company had some explaining to do.

It comes as Environment Minister Sussan Ley confirms she is looking into the foundation’s claims that Venture Minerals was also in breach of its approvals.

Venture Minerals

The approvals provided a five-year term from 2013-2018 under which the company needed to have begun substantial extraction or reapply for permission to mine at the site.

“Perhaps Minister Ley knows their whereabouts?,” Mr Jordan asked.

He claims the footage shows evidence of mined and screened material from activity that occurred between August 20 and September 7, 2020, during the capital raising period.