Residents of a rural Victorian town who allege that the state’s largest goldmine is making excessive noise that is costing them sleep and causing health issues will have their claim heard in a supreme court trial.
Two residents of Axedale, about 22km from Bendigo, allege that the Fosterville goldmine, which is 3km from their property, has caused “excessive” noise since mid-2020 which prevented them from falling asleep.
In a ruling handed down this month, a Victorian supreme court associate judge ordered the residents’ legal claim to proceed to trial this year and rejected the mine’s application for proceedings to be halted.
The plaintiffs, Kirsty McDonald and Karen Oliver, claimed the noise – a low frequency they said they perceived as a humming noise – had caused headaches, nausea and heart palpitations. They alleged it also led to them feeling irritated, distressed and depressed.
The Fosterville mine, about 25km east of Bendigo, is the state’s largest gold producer.
In their statement of claim, filed in the court in 2023, the complainants also alleged the noise prevented them from using certain rooms in their house and from hosting visitors.
They argued that they had grounds for a court injunction to prevent further nuisance. The pair alleged the mine had failed to reduce noise emissions in response to notices issued by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria in 2021 and 2022.
In its defence, Fosterville said noise levels measured at the Axedale property around May 2021, when the plaintiffs provided access, were “typical of a quiet rural environment”.
Additionally, it argued testing of noise levels at the property, between 2021 and 2024, showed the level of low-frequency noise did not exceed recommended thresholds in the EPA guidelines.
The mine’s legal team also argued the noise levels measured at the property were unlikely to cause any adverse health effects in most people. It said if the residents had perceived any low-frequency sound, it was not due to unreasonable noise caused by the mine.
The mine said its operations were aligned with the terms of the permits and approvals granted by the relevant regulatory authorities
Last year Fosterville applied to the court have the proceedings halted, arguing the residents’ claim had no “real prospect of success and/or are an abuse of process”.
But associate judge Melissa Lee Daly last week ruled that conflicting reports by experts from either side, including about the relevance of characteristics of noise, meant the matter should proceed to trial.
Daly said what the experts did agree on is there was no objective means of assessing the characteristics of noise.
“Such an argument is quintessentially a matter for debate at trial, not a debate that can be resolved in the conduct of the summary judgment application,” she said in the ruling handed down on 10 January.
Daly accepted that investigations carried out by the EPA into the mine’s operations and its notices did not establish that noise from Fosterville which “caused a nuisance’ to the residents. But she said it was unlikely that the EPA notices were issued lightly.
Daly concluded that while the residents may have some difficulty proving their case at a trial, their claims could not be “described as preposterous, incredible or improbable”, as argued by the mine.
Daly said the plaintiffs had flagged they would call evidence from neighbouring residents but said the weight this was given would be a matter for the trial.
A spokesperson for the mine said it had a “proactive approach to noise management, which includes significant investment into projects to reduce noise from our operation.”
“Fosterville Gold Mine is committed to meaningful engagement with our local community to understand and address their concern,” the spokesperson said.
“We will continue to take this approach and adapt our practices based on community feedback.”
The supreme court trial is scheduled to begin on 11 August.
