Monitoring Has Never Been Declined At Glen Lea

Ms Pamela King and Mr Colin Leask live and farm at Glen Lea, the property directly over the road from the Splitters Creek Evaporation Facility; they run a chemical-free farm and Shetland pony stud.

They've been trying to, anyway.

Concerned for the future of their farming business, and they have been farming chemical-free for 17 years, in 2014 they took City of Greater Bendigo Council to VCAT - yes that's right, COUNCIL; THEY DID NOT TAKE THE MINE TO VCAT - over the then-proposed Splitters Creek Evaporation Facility. 

And a further 29 conditions over and above the inadequacies of Council's decisions were imposed by the VCAT Members to address Colin and Pam's concerns.

And despite what you may have heard, they have NEVER declined monitoring and sampling of the water and the dust at their property. They have informed the mine and the regulators that the sampling regime is far from adequate and have provided their own requirements – requirements that fall within the legislation and are more appropriate for application to their food-producing agricultural business.

And these requirements have been ignored by the mine and the regulators and no one from the regulators has spoken to them about this since early November 2014.

Pam and Colin are at a loss to understand why they are being forced to deal with a mineral extraction company – and the mining facilitator, DSDBI – in order to ensure the integrity of their chemical-free agricultural concern.

Where is the EPA? Where is the Department of Health? DEPI?

Here’s how the offers of monitoring and sampling unfolded. Six days before the stripping of the topsoil commenced on Lot 2 – recall, dust generating works had already commenced without notice on Lot 1 – Pam and Colin received this email from Mr Andrew Mattiske, then-Sustainability Manager for Mandalay Resources.

From: Andrew Mattiske [mailto:A.Mattiske@mandalayresources.com.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 22 October 2014 3:59 PM
To: glenlea1
Subject: water sampling

 Hi Pam,

 Sorry I caught you on the road this morning.

 As you are aware we are working toward finalising approvals to commence work at Lot 2.  I am keen to ensure that you are kept informed on progress.

 I would like to seek your permission to collect a sample of water from your dam, and a sample from your household rainwater tank to get some background measurements before work commences out at Lot 2.  Happy to discuss how this should take place.

 If ok by you, it has been proposed that these samples are collected every three months.

Also if you would like, we could set up a continuous dust monitor near your house during construction.  These DustTrak monitors provide 10 minute dust measurements 24 hours per day, and you can read the measurements over the internet any time.  This is not required by the work plan but might be a good way for you to ensure dust levels are not elevated.

Will try to call you Thursday morning to discuss.

 Regards,

Andrew Mattiske | Manager Sustainability | Mandalay Resources – Costerfield Operations

***

It's not only mines that work out in Costerfield - farmers have a bit on their plates, too.

From: Colin Leask [mailto:glenlea1]
Sent: Friday, 24 October 2014 7:09 AM
To: Andrew Mattiske
Subject: RE: water sampling

Andrew,

Colin and I are very busy as it is hay time. 

We have concerns re the wording of the planning permit and the work plan and are employing the services of a solicitor again. So at this stage unable to converse. When we are advised by our legal expert we will get back to you.

Regards 

Pam and Colin

***

Mr Mattiske understands. Of course he does. Their concerns are understandable.And he will wait.

From: Andrew Mattiske [mailto:A.Mattiske@mandalayresources.com.au]
Sent: Friday, 24 October 2014 9:45 AM
To: Colin Leask
Subject: RE: water sampling

Hi Pam and Colin,

Thanks.  I understand and will wait for you to get back to me.

Unfortunately Mandalay is unable to defer this project any longer, as the dams are urgently required to store groundwater.

  

Final approvals are expected to be received in the coming days, and Mandalay expects work to commence early next week.  The first stage of work will be stripping topsoil.

Please contact me if you have any specific concerns about the way the contractors are carrying out the work.

Regards,

 Andrew Mattiske | Manager Sustainability | Mandalay Resources – Costerfield Operations

***

It didn't take long for Pam and Colin to get back to him. Just two days later Pam and Colin send their monitoring requirements to Mr Mattiske.

From: Colin Leask [mailto:glenlea1]
Sent: Sunday, 26 October 2014 8:24 PM
To: 'Andrew Mattiske'
Subject: RE: water sampling

Attached is our response, it has been formulated based on the fact that previous drafts of the work plan indicated that water sampling would be done monthly and now it has been altered to quarterly.

We do not give you permission to enter our property, you must make an appointment and one of us will need to be present while samples are being taken.

We note that thus far you have not been in contact with other neighbours Lazorovski and Harris re this. 

Colin Leask & Pamela King

***

Colin is a 50-year member of the Country Fire Authority. And he has a tale or two regarding the slap-dash approach to dealing with fire that he has observed on the part of mine workers in the area... parking running utes in a bone dry paddock with knee high grass on total fire ban days... seriously. He does not want mine staff on his land unaccompanied.

In any case Pam and Colin attached their informed requirements for the monitoring of their chemical-free farm and Shetland pony stud:

25^TH October 2014.

Mr Andrew Mattiske,

Manager Sustainability,

Mandalay Resources Costerfield Operations,

P.O. Box 667Heathcote Vic 3523.

Dear Mr Mattiske,

                                    WATER TESTING AND AIR MONITORING

REFERENCE:1.              Your email  dated 24/10/2014 at 12.42 pm

                                                                       

Set out below are our requirements for water testing and dust monitoring.

1.    Dam, House and Shed tank testing.

1.1          Procedure.

In accordance with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

1.2          Approved container – Nalgene 125 ml PP wide mouth with PP screw cap type NAL2105-0004.

1.3          Approved sample collector – Hatlar (www hatlar.com)

1.4          3 samples from each location; 2 samples to property owner, 1 sample to Mandalay

1.5          Approved Laboratory for property owner: Envirolab Services Pty Ltd.

1.6          Testing methodology: 17  Metals,  Metals -020 ICP-AES, Metals-021 CV-AAS mercury cold vapour AAS, Inorg-008, Metals 022 ICP-MS. 

1.7          Testing time scale – every month for 3 years.

1.8          Data to be in the public domain.

2.    Air monitoring – Particulates.

2.1          Standard – AS/NZS 3580.1.12007  Part 1.1 Guide to siting air monitoring equipment.

2.2          Reference - SEPP (Air Quality Management) SEPP 240 – Primary standards;

2.3          Reference – SEPP (Mining and Extractive Industries) VicEPA publication 1191 Table 2;

2.4          Indicators:

Respirable Crystalline Silica (class 3)-3 minute average;

Chromium (class 3) -3 minute average;

Arsenic (class 3) – 3 minute average;

Cadmium (class 3) – 3 minute average

PM_2.5- 24 hour and 1 hour average;

PM₁₀ – 24 hour average and 1 hour average;

Antimony and compounds – 3 minute average;

Lead – 1 hour average;

Mercury Inorganic 3 minute average;

2.5          Required Best Practice.

As per clause 18 and clause 19 of SEPP AQM (SEPP 240)

2.6          Monitoring Equipment.

2.6.1       Dust Track Equipment - not acceptable.

2.6.2       Preferred equipment supplier Lear Siegler Australasia

2.7          Electricity Supply.

At cost plus 10% to Mandalay Resources.

We look forward to your notification that you will comply with our requirements.

Yours Sincerely,

Colin Leask & Pamela King

***

And the reply is acknowledged.

From: Andrew Mattiske [mailto:A.Mattiske@mandalayresources.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 27 October 2014 4:26 PM
To: Colin Leask
Subject: RE: water sampling

 Hi Colin and Pam,

 Thanks for your response.  We are reviewing what you have proposed and I will respond asap.

 Andrew Mattiske | Manager Sustainability | Mandalay Resources – Costerfield Operations

***

And then just two minutes later an “oh and by the way” email is sent … work starts tomorrow! And so less than one day’s notice of the commencement of work is provided by the 2013 Chair of the Mining Council of Australia’s Victorian Division’s Environment and Communities Working Group (p. 65)… Promoting “best practice environment and community engagement practices, regulations and provid[ing] capacity-building opportunities” (whatever that last bit means).

Anyway this notification email is not best practice. “Please also note…”
 

From: Andrew Mattiske [mailto:A.Mattiske@mandalayresources.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 27 October 2014 4:28 PM
To: Colin Leask
Subject: RE: water sampling

Hi Colin and Pam,

Please also note that the contractors are expecting to commence some work on Lot 2 tomorrow, Tuesday 28 Oct. The final approvals have now been received.

Regards,

Andrew Mattiske | Manager Sustainability | Mandalay Resources – Costerfield Operations

Here is the Community Engagement section of the Work Plan:

And that night Mr Leask’s mother passed away at the age of 100. 

(And anyone doing any sort of "Community Engagement" would have known of this, wouldn't they? Shouldn't they?)

And on the morning of 28 October, work commenced on the construction of the Splitters Creek Evaporation Facility. And the dust was horrendous and the noise was unconscionable. And it was a public holiday in Bendigo and all the council assistance line could offer in the way of suggestions for dust mitigation was “perhaps all the water carting trucks are off on the public holiday”.

And one day later, after works had commenced:

From: Andrew Mattiske [mailto:A.Mattiske@mandalayresources.com.au]
Sent: Thursday, 30 October 2014 1:42 PM
To: glenlea1

Subject: Water Sampling

Hi Pam,

As discussed, please find attached a letter and monitoring plan in relation to water and dust monitoring at the Splitters Creek evaporation facility. [Note the lack of any recognition of particulates by the Auditor.]

Regards, 

Andrew Mattiske | Manager Sustainability | Mandalay Resources – Costerfield Operations

 ***

And then, after just two days work on this urgent project that could not be deferred any longer, this email arrived in the morning.

At 8:23am ... no notice...

From: Andrew Mattiske [mailto:A.Mattiske@mandalayresources.com.au]
Sent: Friday, 31 October 2014 8:23 AM
To: glenlea1@
Subject: No work Lot 2 Friday 31 October

Hi Pam and Colin,

Fyi…..no work is planned at Lot 2 today, Friday 31 October.  The contractors are taking the day off.

Regards,

 Andrew Mattiske | Manager Sustainability | Mandalay Resources – Costerfield Operations

 ***

Two days work. And then a long weekend for the contractors. Well, why not? The 1 November amendments to the MRSD Act regarding 'low risk mines' had been avoided. Phew. That might have meant that the EPA had something to do.

But as it turned out, EVERYONE took the weekend off and the dust blew and no one could be contacted to deal with it. And the people to whom Ms King spoke over that weekend got an earful of anger and frustration, fuelled by mourning and a sense of injustice. "Stop the dust!" "Do something!" An earful over the phone, mind you. Ms King also visited the Brunswick Site Operations office and spoke with a Mandalay employee who had video-ed and photographed the dust for the company. It was a very amicable chat. We were there, too.

We would still like to see the video.

But no one contacted them and so a, surely understandably, peeved Pam and Colin sent the following email on the day before Mrs Mary Leask’s funeral.

Pam and Colin express concern for other members of the community, Helen and Tony Lazarovski, who now have a heavy vehicle entry point and diesel refuelling tanks almost opposite their driveway and had not been contacted by the mine. 

And boy were they angry. Wouldn't you be?


From: Colin Leask [mailto:glenlea1@a]
Sent: Monday, 3 November 2014 6:44 PM
To: Andrew Mattiske
Cc: 'Helen Leach'; b.kilian@bendigo.vic.gov.au; b.lyons@bendigocouncillors.org.au; kylie.white@dsdbi.vic.gov.au; John.Mitas@dsdbi.vic.gov.au; Colin.Thornton@dsdbi.vic.gov.au; bob.disken@dsdbi.vic.gov.au; Rosemary.Lester@health.vic.gov.au; p.cox@bendigocouncillors.org.au; p.mansfield@Bendigo.vic.gov.au
Subject: RE: No work Lot 2 Friday 31 October

Thank you for that notice Andrew, extremely short though it was.

We also note... fyi... that whoever was supposed to supervise the mitigation of the dust that will inevitably issue from Lot 2 took the day off, too. And took Saturday off. In case you hadn’t realised, it is dusty in Costerfield. And dust doesn’t take the weekend off, Andrew.

Friday was a warm, dry day, and lo and behold the scar that the contractors have carved into the ground out here dried out and dust blew everywhere. Your 24/7 number was unmanned again and despite making numerous attempts to contact someone from Mandalay we are yet to receive an acknowledgement of our calls and texts to your company. Please explain how this fits into your observation regarding “engagement”. Do you have any solution to that wholly unacceptable situation for the future, Andrew?

We would like copies of the video and photos of the dust taken by your employee, Matt, with whom we spoke at the Brunswick Site Office, please.

An apology from you and your company for the inconsiderateness, unprofessionalism and short-sightedness displayed in neglecting to allow for this dust, and for the discomfort and inconvenience we have been forced to endure as a result, will be a good start towards the engagement you desire, Andrew.

Not much of the copious dust blown about on Saturday will have landed in the dust deposition gauges that have been installed on site. It will have landed much further away. On other people’s properties so you don’t have to worry about it... 80km/h gusts. The weather station you no doubt have installed at the site will confirm this. We won’t know how much dust has landed in our dams or on our property because no dust monitoring equipment has been installed yet. We sent you our requirements for monitoring of dust and for water sampling on the 27 October (in prompt reply to an email dated 24 October –“I understand” you said - as an example of our wish to engage with your company). The requirements are extensive, precise and stringent and we are unapologetic about this fact.

Given the events of the past year regarding dust about the district we think that our request for you to implement such measures is far from unreasonable. However, despite your accusations that we refuse to engage with you, you made no attempt to contact us about our email and waited just one day before commencing works on Lot 2.

We also note that Helen and Tony Lazorovski are yet to have their water sampled. They received a single phone call from you before they were issued a notification of the monitoring plan. No mention is made in that plan of the requirement to sample water “prior to” works commencing, and the document is dated one day AFTER works had already commenced. Engagement again?

Andrew, what are you going to do about the heavy vehicle driveway into the site that is directly opposite the Lazarovski property? We have photos of unacceptable dust issuing from trucks entering the site already. Could that driveway not have been placed anywhere else rather than as close as is possible to a residential property? This will also be drawn to Council’s and the regulators’ attention.

The truck drivers you have contracted, too, must be notified that this is a rural residential area and that they are likely to encounter residents’ cars driving along the South Costerfield-Graytown Road.


This means that they cannot travel along it as if it were their own dedicated race track. It is not. It is a public road and they are to be mindful of not only other traffic, but the dust they generate. We have already been almost run off the road by a truck travelling much too fast, kicking up dust and stones that will shatter a windscreen. Take that advice from someone with local knowledge.

Speaking of local knowledge, we have a “naturally occurring health issue” in the area. It is to do with the antimony and arsenic found in the dust and soils. We are not supposed to be exposed to it. Nine residential properties in Costerfield are already so contaminated that children should not live there. If you are in any doubt about this or have any questions regarding the seriousness of this situation, we direct you to the Energy and Resources website and a little exercise your company helped fund called the Rapid Assessment. The Department of Health are also conversant with the details. Please call them.

We would be very appreciative if you could treat these matters with the urgency and importance they require. Please advise when you wish to send adequately qualified people to our property to install equipment that complies with our requirements. Or please contact us – engage with us – to organise a discussion of the monitoring and sampling programmes.

Regards

Pamela King and Colin Leask

 ***

And here is the final communication Pam and Colin have received from anyone regarding sampling and monitoring at their property:

From: Andrew Mattiske [mailto:A.Mattiske@mandalayresources.com.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 4 November 2014 4:06 PM
To: Colin Leask
Subject: Evaporation Facility Project

Dear Colin and Pam,

Your concerns about dust and traffic are noted, and these have been discussed with the contractors to ensure that these issues are being properly managed.

The environmental monitoring requirements for the project, as described in the Environmental Monitoring Plan provided, have been assessed by an EPA appointed auditor and relevant regulatory authorities [DSDBI, the mining facilitator] as being appropriate.  Mandalay is obliged to carry out monitoring in accordance with these requirements.  Duplicate water samples can be collected for your purposes, if you wish.

Regards,

Andrew Mattiske | Manager Sustainability | Mandalay Resources – Costerfield Operations

And that’s it. No more contact.

And then just two days later, on 6 November, the diminutive Ms King was removed from the ERC Meeting on 6 November - in front of the gathered meeting; a publicly humiliating experience - because she apparently “posed a threat to Mandalay employees”. And another community member was asked to leave for writing this blog. Despite paragraph 3:

And no further communication regarding sampling or monitoring has been entered into since.

Not by Mandalay Resources.

And not by any of the regulatory authorities, who have hung Ms King and Mr Leask out to dry.

No contact from the Department of Health, despite communication (on 9 December, 2014, but one-way!) eliciting their assistance in receiving adequate monitoring in light of Golder Associates’ adoption of parameters exceeding those originally offered. And nothing – of course – from the EPA.

At the November ERC Meeting from which Ms King was excluded, the monitoring of her and Mr Leask’s premises was discussed - in their absence – and Mr Colin Thornton of DSDBI advised the mine that it may be necessary for it to sample outside the parameters of the work plan in order to acquire the necessary baseline environmental data.

Still not a word. From anyone.

Pam and Colin have NEVER declined sampling and monitoring. They have questioned why it is that they must deal with the mine – the generator of the dust and noise and water issues – when there are regulatory authorities and Public Servants who should be charged with this responsibility. They have provided testing parameters that the mine and the regulators have refused to address, despite the issues with the ‘whole of government’ assessment into antimony contamination in the area.

And despite the fact that they run a chemical-free farm. They grow food for people.

Accepting Mandalay Resources’ offer of testing implies approval of an inadequate and inappropriate sampling regime. A tacit admission that all is well with the assessment. And that is not true.

Pam and Colin provided informed requirements for sampling and monitoring, requirements that are wholly understandable. These are not unreasonable requests. Remember what has been happening with dust monitoring in Costerfield...

And no one has bothered to deal with these people since, other than to attempt to corral them into compliance with the mine.

Their neighbours, Helen and Tony Lazarovski forwarded exactly the same sampling requirements to Mandalay Resources. And they received no reply. They had been contacted once by phone prior to construction commencing regarding dust and water monitoring at their property.

But when they contacted the Department of Health, sampling and monitoring were undertaken by Golder Associates without question.

But not for Pam and Colin… why is that? Because a villain is needed and it can't be the regulators and it certainly can't be the mine. 

If and when things go pear-shaped, you can always blame Pam and Colin, the chemical-free farmer and the Shetland pony breeder.

***

And Pam had to email DSDBI to ask what the Christmas work schedule was across the road because the mine "forgot" to inform her.