Minister’s Last Minute Decision Leaves Billion Dollar Gold Mine in Uncertainty
An eleventh-hour move by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has caused plans for an open-cut goldmine to be deemed unviable by Regis Resources.
A $1 billion (US$674 million) gold mining project is now uncertain following last-minute intervention by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to protect the site on Indigenous grounds.
Mining company Regis Resources had intended to establish a gold mine at the McPhillamys Gold Project site near Blayney in New South Wales over an approximately 11-year period.
The project had received state and federal approval and was expected to generate around 1,000 jobs.
However, on Aug. 16, Plibersek took action on a section 10 application related to a part of the Belubula River, which Indigenous groups argue holds significant cultural value and is still utilized today.
According to Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, an Indigenous individual or representative can file an application to safeguard an area from development.
The Indigenous Heritage designation encompasses a portion of the river that was within the proposed location of a storage facility for leftover material from the planned mine.
Regis Resources asserts that safeguarding the waterway within the planned open-cut mine would render the project financially unsustainable.
On a late Wednesday, Regis devalued the project by $192 million and retracted its assessment of 1.89 million ounces of ore reserves at the site.
“Regis has initiated an evaluation of the repercussions on the economic value of our operations,” CEO Jim Beyer stated in a communication to the stock exchange.
“The section 10 order declaration has resulted in the loss of planned access … this has made the project in its current form unviable.”
The Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West (WTOCWAC) Aboriginal Corporation supported Plibersek’s action, but declined to provide a statement when approached by The Epoch Times.
The section 10 application was lodged on behalf of a group of Wiradjuri elders, citing the cultural importance of the Belubula headwaters and the Belubula River.
Regis plans to explore legal avenues to contest the Section 10 application, indicating that creating alternatives to the proposed waste storage facility could take five to 10 years without approval.
In the meantime, the company expressed disappointment in the anticipated job losses in Blayney, along with decreases in royalties and tax revenues as a result of the decision.
NSW Natural Resources Minister Courtney Houssos stated this week that the mine held strategic significance for the state.
“Protecting heritage and advancing key mining projects need not be a mutually exclusive proposition,” she remarked.
Regis is scheduled to publish its 2023/24 financial year results on Aug. 22.
