Sb Issues Home

Your first time here? Welcome! We hope the information on this page will make you curious to learn more about what happened in Costerfield over the summer of 2013-14; what has been happening in Costerfield (and, no doubt elsewhere in Victoria) for a decade and more. 

We encourage you to contact our - and your - elected representatives with your concerns for our town. Links to the Victorian Premier and his Mining Minister are to be found at the bottom of the page. 

Contact us at costerfield.antimony.issues@gmail.com or  steve.blackey@gmail.com
 
This is a return visit? Welcome back and thank you for the support!

Here's what we're up against in Costerfield: Regulatory Authorities that don't regulate.


The Regulatory Authorities have consistently and over many years, failed to adequately address issues with regards to water, noise, property rights, precautionary measures to protect the community and, of course, most recently - and again! - dust.

The various buttons at the top of the page will direct you to these areas of interest. The posts down the right of the page address specific aspects of these various issues.

The site is currently very much still under construction so please do forgive any gaps there may be. The site has been designed largely as a store of information for the Costerfield Community but one that may also be referred to by everyone and anyone as we pursue our aims of bringing the regulation of World's Best Practice to our town. 

We don't know why it's not being done already.  

Merely because it is the most high profile recent issue in Costerfield, we shall begin here with dust. 

But it's not just the dust. 

(Please do  note that since the November 2014 State Election and the appointment of a new Minister under a Labor government, that we have been and are being listened to at last. Things are being done. 

And we thank the Hon Ms. Lily D'Ambrosio MP for her tireless efforts to raise the standard of regulation in Costerfield. 

Thank you, Lily! 

This does not mean that there aren't still questions to be answered... read on, please! )

***

The more things change the more they stay the same...

With the heavy influx of meteoric water, baling has become irksome, but with the likelihood of nearby cessation of that trouble, conditions should improve and permit of less costly extensions of operations in directions in which, indications suggest, such work might lead to discovery of ore shoots other than those that have in whole or part been dealt with.

H. S. Whitelaw, 1926, No. 50: The Costerfield Auriferous Antimony Veins, Bulletins of the Geological Survey of Victoria, p. 23.

***

Merry Christmas from Costerfield!

 ***

This is what has passed as dust monitoring at the Costerfield mine under the watchful regulatory eye of the Environmental Protection Authority and the Department of State Development Business and Innovation (ironic, huh?) in its various manifestations over the last decade or so. Oh, and of course, not forgetting the Responsible Authority, the City of Greater Bendigo Council. This is supposed to meet an Australian Standard! We call it the funnel-in-a-flagon because of the 'hilarity' to be found here.

The dust is supposed to go inside the funnel.

 And here's another telling image.

And here's one of the still unanswered questions that accompanies it:

How much material – antimony, arsenic, respirable silica, blasting detritus “including CO2, CO, SO2, NOX and ammonia gases (NH4)” - does EPA/DSDBI/COGB estimate has been allowed to be emitted by the mine via its vents over the past eight years? 

Including? Only including?

And where has it gone? 

 

Costerfield, Victoria, Australia.

Dust from the  gold and antimony mine spewed over the tranquil central Victorian farming community of Costerfield last summer. You could taste the metal in the air. 

When they eventually caught on, and it took a while, the mining regulators scrambled into damage control. The Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI) "quickly" ordered the crusher turned off, among other things; the Department's actions succeeded in “significantly reducing dust from the mine”. So, the dust was significant...

Worried locals had their urine, soil, water and animals tested.

Elevated concentrations of the heavy metals antimony and arsenic were found in their bodies, in their livestock and throughout the district. In their water tanks.Yet in its media release, Report into Antimony in Costerfield, the DSDBI directs attention away from current mineral extraction activities and towards the “high levels of antimony [in the area]… as a result of historical mining dating back to the 1860s”. There is no mention of arsenic. And the mine cannot be blamed.

Attributing the district-wide antimony contamination solely to historical mining activity is pure misinformation by the Departments concerned. No regulator has ever seen fit to fully inform the people of Costerfield of the previous or possible impacts of heavy metal mining on them.

These are hardworking country people who know and love Australia’s often dry and dusty conditions. They don't complain without cause. They know their land better than the regulators and they know when things got bad. 

The Department of Health and DSDBI’s emphasis on ambient antimony is a further attempt to divert attention away from their own and other regulators’ repeated refusals to enforce adequate protective and precautionary conditions on Canadian mining company Mandalay Resources’ Costerfield operation.

For years, residents and ratepayers concerned about the impacts of the mine repeatedly called for what DSDBI has now announced: “Mandalay to stop using groundwater on the roads for dust suppression, stop misting sprays on the evaporation ponds and review dust and groundwater management to minimise the impact on the environment”. The residents feared airborne contaminants.

These very issues formed the bases of numerous planning objections submitted by residents to City of Greater Bendigo Council and the other regulators, but they were dismissed as unnecessary. That they now, apparently, form the cornerstone of DSDBI’s dust and antimony suppression strategy is the height of hypocrisy. 

When it’s in the papers (for the retraction of a LIE or whatever reason), the objectors’ demands are met. But DSDBI wants to take credit for what are very old suggestions. Suggestions that were not supposed to have any effect when proposed by the Public. Why were the regulators not listening? Why were these requested measures not already in place? 

Also announced is the installation of real-time dust monitoring equipment to replace the previous funnel-in-a-flagon debacle. Antimony-afflicted residents welcome this technology upgrade but ask why this equipment was never permanently installed before?

And how effective is this "new" technology anyway?

How many units are monitoring dust across how many square kilometres, affecting how many thousands of people's lives? 

Initially residents within 1.5km of the mine were advised to be cautious in their water use. Then bottled water was provided to residents at least 3km away. How far has the contamination spread?

In its summary report for DSDBI (and Mandalay Resources), consultancy firm Golder Associates points to a number of so-called Data Gaps. Consideration of the “impact on stock, pets or wildlife” is one that is definitely important in view of the area’s agricultural role. Yet so too, one would hope, would be testing of every property and person close to the mine. Despite concerns being voiced in March, this is still to be done.

[March 2014!! ]

And despite being notified in March, it was not until May that a representative from DoH visited Costerfield to announce a ‘rapid’ assessment of the situation. At the Community Hall meeting, residents were advised to drink bottled water, not the rainwater from their tanks.

The contaminated water did not represent an “immediate health risk,” they were told. Just don’t drink it. And definitely don’t give it to your children. But not an immediate risk, no.

The regulators seem to be operating in an alternate universe. They casually announce that at least nine properties in the area are so contaminated that they are unsafe for children. Yet no further comment is necessary, because “there are currently no children residing” there. 

So, until the replacement of “soil in play areas and garden beds” is completed, Costerfield children should presumably wear dust masks when playing outside. 

How have things been allowed to become so bad?

Why is DSDBI - a Mining regulator - overseeing a Health issue?

 ***

What has been happening in Costerfield?  

You won't find out at the Energy and Resources website, here...

Why is a mining regulator dealing with a health Issue?
What does this say about the priorities of our present and previous Governments?

Something called a 'whole of government response' has effectively closed communication channels between the people of Costerfield and their elected so-called Representatives. 

And the Public Servants responsible for this debacle have closed ranks and largely refused to comment. 

A disrespectfully dismissive letter signed by four senior Regulatory Officers is all that we have had in response to our numerous cogent requests for answers. No acknowledgement of our reply.

Hopefully this sharing of information on our part - information that it often seems is unavailable or inconceivable to the Government - will spur a more open response from those whom we, the Public, pay well to serve us well.

*** 

Costerfield is mining town with a long and productive history since European settlement in the mid-19th century. The documented Aboriginal presence in the area no doubt stretches back millenia.

But the whole sorry saga with antimony contamination begins late in the last century...

In 1998 mining construction was ceased by the Department of Natural Resources and Energy on ML 4073, partly because of the mine's activities which were assessed as "additional to an existing background level of contamination" of antimony dust. 

Contemporary newspaper accounts contain unchallenged assertions that the dust was produced by the mine's activities. Uncorroborated claims of historical antimony contamination also make the rounds.

(But notice who's "threatened" by the "Health scare"!)

 A letter was issued from the Minister's Office on 23 September, 1998, to the Shadow Minister for Environment, Conservation and Land Management in response to community concerns that the license would be renewed.

Apparently a "naturally occurring health issue ... ha[d] existed at Costerfield since before the township was first mined last century".

Nice for us present-day Costerfield residents to have been informed of this, eh?

Apparently, too, a "prudent monitoring regime revealed this situation" and "necessary steps have been taken to understand and develop appropriate solutions". The mine was not "likely" to have been the "sole" contributor, but its construction was ceased. Not "likely" to be the "sole" contributor still sounds like the possibility of quite a sizable contribution.
 
At that time it was declared that:

Mining will not re-commence at Costerfield unless a strategy can be developed to ensure that the health of the community is not compromised. The environmental health issue is being progressed as a matter of priority by DHS and the Department [DNRE].
 
Naturally this begs a few questions. These are questions we posed in emails to the regulators, and here, in mid-September. No response.

·        What was the "naturally occurring health issue revealed" by the Department's "prudent monitoring"? What was its extent?

We reckon we know the answer to this now... there was arsenic (you see, in 1998 the departments tested the other way around, arsenic but not antimony till prompted) in tailings heaps in Costerfield, so these were required to be "rehabilitated" before mining recommenced.
 

·        Can we see the reports?

Fat chance! We're only the affected community.

·        What were seen to be the "appropriate solutions" that were necessary to "develop" and why? 
·        Were these solutions applied? What was their success?

The solution was to send mining underground... you can decide on the success or otherwise.

·        Can we see the reports?

·        What were the results of the prioritised progression of the "environmental health issue" by DHS and DNRE?

One wonders...
 

·        Can we see the reports?

·        Does the reason for the recent spate of high antimony readings in Costerfield and Heathcote bear any resemblance or boast any connection to events of 1998? If so, in what way? If not, why not?

We say yes. Absolutely. Antimony and other materials have been allowed to be emitted from the mine by the regulators. Just as in 1998.The 'whole of government' remains silent on this point. 
 

·        On what basis was mining recommenced at the site again? That is, what "strategy" was developed to "ensure that the health of the community is not compromised"? To what extent and in what ways must this strategy be maintained today in order to forestall the "environmental health issues" in the Costerfield area?

 Send it underground... out of sight, out of mind.

·        What specific conditions were "incorporated in the approved Work Plan" that obviously followed this letter and enabled a "renewal of the mining licence... currently under consideration by the Department"?

·        Where they successful? By whose assessment? To what extent are they still employed?

·        Can we see the reports?

Tailings rehabilitation to deal with arsenic.

But the dust was pumped into the crisp, clear, cold, inversion-prone Costerfield air via the mine's vents.

For eight years.

***

If, after reading this blog, you are as concerned about the issues in Costerfield as we are, or if you feel you need to comment on the direction that has been taken by successive Victorian governments and the regulatory authorities under their control, please voice your concerns here

(Please note that since the November 2014 State Electiion and the appointment of a new Minister under a Labour government, that we are being listend to at last. Things are being done. And we thank the Hon Ms. Lily D'Ambrosio MP for her tireless efforts to raise the standard of regulation in Costerfield. Thank you, Lily!

Premier's Office

  
and here
 
Mining Minister

By using the subject line "What's happening in Costerfield?", "What happened in Costerfield?" or "Costerfield Requires An EES" just to mix it up a bit, you would greatly assist us in raising our profile in Spring St. 

Demand answers. You or one of your loved ones may want to live in beautiful Costerfield one day. These are Public Servants. You are the Public. Demand answers.

But please remember:

It is civil discourse that is most productive. Abuse is counter-productive in every way. No one cares and no one listens. The cause of Costerfield will not be advanced by abusing anyone. Please use the facts to be gleaned from this site and elsewhere to bolster your argument rather than ranting.

Also, please be aware that:

We are NOT anti-mining. The extractive industries are an essential contributor to our social and economic well-being. The computer you are using needs the materials mines provide.

We are NOT advocating the priority of agriculture over mining. These primary industries can and should be able to co-exist.

We ARE in favour of world's best practice and beyond as the standard for mining regulation in Victoria. It should be the standard everywhere. When the legacy is potentially harmful and permanent then the precautions we take must be the most stringent possible.

Future generations will inevitably judge us harshly by the legacies we leave. But, with care, they may also sometimes judge us generously by the sincere efforts we make to retain and restore this, our world, for them.
 
We will disavow any and all communications ostensibly made on our behalf, no matter how heartfelt or good-willed their intentions may be, should they voice opinions that do not represent our stated positions or that fail to abide by the conventions of civil discourse.

Be nice to each other, people. 


Wappentake Valley Community