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Unity Mining CEO Andrew McIllwain said he was “lost for words” on reading the report on proposed changes to the Dargues Gold Mine at Majors Creek prepared for Eurobodalla and Palerang councils.
Mr McIllwain suggested the GHD draft report by Peter Beck analysing Unity’s environmental assessment was “so biased that it should be ignored” by both councils.
He said he had “never seen a report like it”.
“I’m lost for words,” Mr McIllwain said.
“The report misrepresents the facts to such as degree that it is laughable. This isn’t science – this is scaremongering.”
Mr McIllwain said Dr Beck seemed to be playing on community fears.
“For instance, he estimates the amount of various heavy metals in the tailings in a way which sounds alarmist,” Mr McIllwain said.
“Three-hundred kilos of mercury sounds terrible.
“What he omits to mention is that it’s 300 kilos in over 1.2 billion kilos of rock material and many of those metals, like mercury, are trapped in the structure of the rock minerals.”
RW Corkery’s principal environmental consultant Mitchell Bland helped prepare Unity’s EA.
Mr Bland said he briefly reviewed Dr Beck’s report and noted there were “a number of criticisms which we will review” once the report is finalised and submitted.
“I do note, however, that the language used by Dr Beck is somewhat sensationalist and that a range of statements contain errors of fact or do not accurately reflect the proposed activities,” he said.
Dr Beck previously advised Eurobodalla Shire Council during its appeal to the original approval for the mine, and Mr Bland said Dr Beck’s report was similarly critical.
“Each of the issues raised by Dr Beck were examined by a range of experts and, following consultation between those experts and Dr Beck, that appeal was settled with the company agreeing to a number of minor matters related to the height of a diversion bund and identifying council on the project’s insurance policy,” Mr Bland said.
Mr McIllwain said the GHD report appeared to lack any understanding of the approvals process which it sought to inform.
“GHD throughout its report criticises our environmental assessment for the lack of detail on matters relating to the facility’s potential operations,” Mr McIllwain said.
“The accepted planning process is to provide those detailed management procedures after approval.
“Conditions imposed on projects by government often have drastic implications on operational procedures.
“It’s therefore illogical and prohibitively expensive to provide operational detail up front.
“We still have to provide operation details and can still be refused permission to progress if they’re not up to scratch.
“We were hoping for a more objective assessment.”