Administrators of the Ballarat goldmine have said the proposed new tailings dam will operate safely despite residents’ concerns about its close proximity to housing.
The mine was recently granted a permit for a fourth storage facility in Mount Clear, just 100m from houses and close to an aged care facility and primary schools.
Balmaine Gold, which is being administered by Hall Chadwick, said the current tailings facility had been operating successfully for the past 10 years with “no ill effect”.
“There has not been any risk associated with the current dam and the company does not expect that the new facility will increase the risk for the community,” Hall Chadwick partner Cameron Shaw said.
The Tailings Dam Community Safety Action Group has challenged the City of Ballarat’s decision to approve the mine’s new dam facility at the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal, stating concerns about the risk of dust blowing off the tailings.
Shaw said Balmaine Gold did not believe there was a risk to public safety because of the site’s mitigation measures, which include two real-time dust monitors and the reporting of PM10 and PM2.5 data every three months.
He said additional dust mitigation approaches would be used during the new dam’s construction and post-construction phase, particularly if windy and dry weather conditions were forecast.
The action group has been lobbying for the project to be referred for a new environmental assessment under the Environmental Effects Act. But both the City of Ballarat and the earth resources regulator said the proposed facility did not meet the threshold to require an environmental effects statement (EES). It has instead been assessed against the requirements of the Mineral Resources Act.
The earth resources regulator’s executive director, Anthony Hurst, said dust from the site was continuously monitored by the mine operator and his organisation received regular reports.
Balmaine Gold’s mine went into administration in March 2023, shortly after it temporarily ceased production because the existing tailings dam was at capacity.
Ballarat resident and secretary of the action group Dr Dora Pearce said the new tailings dam may be needed to shore up the mine, but that didn’t lessen the need for an EES.
Pearce, who is a former environmental epidemiologist, has called for more stringent air monitoring around the mine, including more stringent monitoring of PM10 and PM2.5 particles and a chemical analysis to test for arsenic and respirable crystalline silica.
She said she had been drawing lessons from central west New South Wales, where the Environmental Protection Authority this week announced it was taking the Cadia Hill goldmine to the land and environment court over alleged air pollution breaches.
Residents in Cadia Valley began complaining of a perceived increase in dust pollution since the wall of the tailings dam collapsed in 2018. They have also reported elevated levels of heavy metals in their rainwater, with lead found in some tanks appearing to match lead in ore from the mine.
Pearce said it was vital Victoria’s EPA took mine monitoring just as seriously.
“The fact that the NSW EPA has acknowledged Cadia’s monitoring inadequacy makes me question whether the Victorian EPA has also satisfied its monitoring around the [Ballarat] goldmine especially because it’s in an urban area,” she said.
“This dam will be much closer to a residential area and there is no buffer. The original dam is over 200m from houses.”
The EPA Victoria is set to have monitoring activity on wastewater discharges to the nearby Yarrowee River, but it is not the main agency dealing with the tailings facility.
Shaw said the Cadia orebody was very different to Ballarat and there were not enough similarities between both operations to draw a meaningful comparison.
