Hoodwinked Part 1 of 4
I would like to congratulate the Bland Shire’s Major Mr Bolte for his leadership in ensuring that West Wyalong and surrounding areas obtain the councils vision of “People, Pride, and Progress”. The incentives that have been introduced to the Shire has the potential to cause serious health concerns throughout the area and loss of livelihood for some of the Shires labour force that rely on agriculture.
Firstly let me state, this series of letters are writing to all parents, to people that have supported us and to the little yellow plane that fly’s around the mine-site every now and then.
There has been little information about the implications of a mine on society, but one place where there is plenty of information regarding gold mining and Barrick is the worldwide web. One such site is the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) Emission Report which can be found within the Federal Department of Environment and Heritage website. Within this site one can obtain the emissions of all compounds into the environment at any operations throughout the country. These emissions cover releases into the air, on land or into water. To observe Barrick Gold’s emissions at their other facilities within Australia the following companies and locations need to be known. They include Forsayth NL trading as Barrick Gold of Australia Lawler Gold Mine, Barrick Gold of Australia Ltd Darlot Gold Mine, Plutonic Gold Mine and Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines KCGM Mining and Mineral Processing.
Despite Mr. Armstrong Member for Lachlan reassurances that” Barrick Gold has an unblemished environmental record world-wide” as reported in the Advocate on November 28th 2003, some of the emissions that occur regularly at Barricks operations throughout Australia include: Carbon Dioxide, Cyanide Compounds, Manganese Compounds, Oxide of Nitrogen, Sulfur Dioxide and Dust. So what are these compounds? What effects will they have on your children, your crops or stock and on your livelihood? Information can be obtained from www.npi.gov.au/database/substance-info/profiles, or come and visit the Lake Cowal Embassy before or during or after Corroboree
Mr. Knoles said commented in The Land Thursday April 11 1996 ”The mine company was unable to guarantee to local communities that the long-term implications would not cause a detrimental effect on local communities”
Lets look at just one of the emission recorded at all of Barricks sites Oxide of Nitrogen. Barrack’s Darlot, Plutonic, Lawler and the Kalgoorlie Super pit on average over the last 3 years have each released 687, 218, 592 and 1467 tons per year respectively. How much will they be emitting at Lake Cowal and how will it effect you?
Exposure to oxides of nitrogen may not always produce immediate effects but may result in fatal excessive fluid in the lung tissues some hours after exposure. Oxides of nitrogen once in the atmosphere forms nitrogen dioxide, with dissolves in water to produce diluted nitric acid or precipitates as rain. An increased rate of formation of oxides of nitrogen contributes to the creating of acid rain. Once in the atmosphere compounds are to the mercy of air currents and fall indiscriminately.
Excessive levels of oxide of nitrogen, particularly nitrogen dioxide can cause death in plants, roots and damage to the leaves of may agricultural crops. Excessive levels of oxide of nitrogen increases the acidity of rain which then lowers the pH of surface and groundwater as well as soils. In turn, this lower pH can have harmful effects including death, on a variety of biola.
The following articles help explain the damages of emissions on humans and cattle.
“Deaths Baffle Parkes Farmer” Western Magazine April 1st 1996
Stewart Macoun claimed the death of this 228 head of cattle on 2 adjacent properties was linked to dust fallout from the nearby NorthParkes Gold mine…the time of the deaths correlated with the process of gold extraction at the minesite….the dust usually developed at night, building up in the atmosphere and dropping out early in the morning.
Mr. Macoun said he had been moving sick cattle for 6 days when he noticed his most serious symptoms.
Blood-tests at the Royal Princess Alfred Hospital in Sydney, had confirmed traces of mercury, selenium, arsenic and antimony in his system…in his urine selenium and zinc was top of the range while cobalt was double the normal level.
Condobolin Rural Protection Board Vet Michael Hindmarsh took blood of cattle and of his dog…the tests indicated manganese, twice the normal level.
State authorities blame fluorine poisoning for the deaths of Mr. Macoun’s cattle despite test results suggest low fluorine levels in the cattle.
Mr Hindmarsh, had been told by Government authorities to discontinue his involvement in the case, including any comment. NSW Agriculture concludes mining activities in the area had nothing to do with the unusual cattle mortality in the area. The report even labeled it as irresponsible the suggestion that heavy metals have fallen out of the sky.
So whom do you believe? The farmer, the hospital, the vet and the dead cattle or the NSW agricultural Department especially when North, now Barrick was attempting to secure approval for the Lake Cowal Gold mine. The EIS states the following chemicals and heavy material would be created during the extraction process: Silver, Arsenic, Bismuth, Cadmium, Copper, Mercury, Molybdenum, Nickel, Lead and Zinc will end up in the tailing dams which are adjacent to the new stock route.
For farmers that are to drove cattle or grow crops in the area, how safe are you and your livelihoods? One local farmer stated in The Land newspaper on the April 11th that the mine would be good for salinity. If one reason for salinity is low ph in the soil, doesn’t oxide of nitrogen further reduce the ph of soil? Anyway why should the family care? Currently the family has sold the rights for Barrick to use two parcels of their land, Lot 2 and 23. However if Barrick is successful in further exploration within Exploration Lease 2865 or 4510,. The family has already informed the company that they can purchase his property. This information can be found on p1-6 of the EIS. So does the family really care about the rising salinity or the health risks to his fellow community members or just his rising bank account?
We care about people, come and have a cuppa at the embassy, there is still a lot more to tell.