Portion of East End Mine substantially flooded early in Feb 2010 recharge |
Landholders endorse proposed GROUT CURTAIN as a district remedy In 2007 our affected rural community strongly endorsed a petition for a GROUT CURTAIN to be installed close to the East End Mine. It is recommended this proposal be considered in conjunction with revamping of the outdated and inefficient water monitoring scheme. If a grout curtain were successfully installed and continuous records of mine pit discharges showed negligible volumes entering and being discharged from the mine, only monitoring within relative proximity of the mine (to ensure integrity of the grout curtain) would be required. Benefits to the company include: Reduced scope and cost of the water monitoring program; less mine downtime due to flooding; reduced pumping costs; savings from having to comply with the “make good” provisions. Benefits to the community and environment: restoration of natural resource, environmental sustainability; equitable co-existence between affected community and the mine. Cover Letter to Hon. Liz Cunningham Petition Ministers Response to Clerk of Parliamentt Re Petition
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Over time EEMAG has retained legal counsel and explored various options (including no win, no fees.) We have obtained varied legal opinions, from both pro bono and paid barrister sources. EEMAG is advised it is extremely hazardous to commit to legal cases where technical evidence is disputed and arguable from various positions. The Courtroom is not cost effective, is ill equipped and may not even be competent to adjudicate on matters of such complexity. In addition, it is a common ploy for companies with deep pockets to hire high powered Senior Counsels and expert witnesses to prolong and frustrate legal matters so that litigants with limited funding cannot progress their case, adequately compete or stay the distance, while of course, adverse cost awards (are not covered by the no win, no fee arrangements.) EEMAG's Experiences in the Land & Resources Tribunal
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Irrigated pengola grass at Bracewell on good quality agricutural land.
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June 2009: Cement Australia applies for new Mining Lease 80156 abutting the East End Mine and for amendment of their environmental authority: After intensive lobbying for Advisory Body status, on 14 August 2009, EPA invited EEMAG to participate as an Advisory Body to the Proposed East End Mine No 5 Project – Draft Terms of Reference for Environmental Impact Statement . On 18 September 2009 EEMAG submitted a 5 page letter, formal response and Documentary detailing the unfair political and administrative “minimum compliance” arrangements under which the mine has operated since inception in 1979. The Cement Australia E.I.S. has not yet progressed to the stage where the draft E.I.S. has been released. Dec 2008 DNR&W Letter to DME re: New ML Application 80156 Sept. 2009 EEMAG East End Mine Documentary Sept. 2009 EEMAG Formal Response Sept. 2009 Neighbour to Mine Submission to TOR
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Goals and Objectives
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New Applications Cement Australia applies for 30 ML/D application to discharge mine water as waste The East End Mine is licensed to discharge 6 ML/D under ordinary conditions and and10 ML/D under recharge conditions while conductivity remains below 1500 EC (uS /cm). For over 30 years the East End Mine has created hardship by pumping groundwater and keeping the aquifers suppressed in the closely settled upstream communities by discharging the limited recharges generated by generally poor rainfall conditions. The valuable water resource has been wantonly abused and discharged as downstream waste to sparsely populated grazing properties. However in 2010 Old Mother Nature reasserted herself by doubling the annual average rainfall and under the mine’s mandatory pumping regime the mine pit was never able to be emptied. The value of accumulated water in the mine at $1000 per ML equals some millions of dollars and much more will run into the mine as the TEP takes effect at elevated pumping rates. The18 February 2011 Cement Australia application for a Transitional Pumping Program for a maximum of 30 ML/D was approved on 28 March for a six month period. Taking into account that the Annual Water Monitoring Reports quotes maximum volumes pumped in any one year at around 1600 ML, this is an astonishing figure. In February 2007 EEMAG staged a public meeting and launched a well supported petition for installation of a grout curtain as a district remedy. Complacent and recklessly indifferent - even of their own welfare - Cement Australia and the Regulators ignored without investigation, the logic and benefits associated with the grout curtain proposal. The only other full recharge in Bracewell’s history since the mine commenced dewatering in 1979 occurred after three above average rainfall years followed by flood falls early in 1991. The hydrograph for Lower Bracewell limestone bore B35 shows the 1991 recharge did not hold and the aquifer fell to critical levels in 2 years. What the community is now mostly concerned about, is that should it stop raining, the approved TEP volumes could be expected to abbreviate the required timeframe to once again cripple local aquifers. Alternative Pumping Sites for Beneficial Use of the Water For two years, 2008 and 2009, Cement Australia pumped a percentage of mine pit water back upstream to a section of Machine Creek where the East End aquifer was chronically depleted without detecting any improvement to the underground aquifer. It has been EEMAG’s constant assertion that the chosen site at Machine Creek was BELOW known recharge zones further upstream in Bracewell. Although the installation of a grout curtain remains EEMAG’s preferred option, recycling back into Bracewell should be mandated on a trial basis. Staged aquifer recoveries in the Cement Australia Project Area. Historically aquifers in the Cement Australia Project area rose and fell in unison. After a succession of recent good summer seasons (but not necessarily above average yearly rainfall totals) local aquifers, at the commencement of 2010, were healthier than for some years. Good rainfall early in 2010 bought full aquifer recoveries to Cedar Vale and Jacob’s Creek headwaters. Above average rainfall and ideal recharge conditions continued until the Bracewell aquifer fully recovered in late December 2010. Such staged aquifer recoveries are unprecedented within living memory and are of course, diagnostic of mine dewatering impacts upon Bracewell. Although rainfall and recharge continues into the very depleted East End aquifer, and mine management is panicky about water levels rises in the mine, full aquifer recovery of East End is unlikely unless flood falls actually fill the mine and aquifer behind it.
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More Broken Promises Contrary to arrangements reached between Cement Australia and EEMAG during technical discussions in 2008 Cement Australia is proceeding with drilling of new monitoring sites without consulting EEMAG
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