Sent from my iPhone... A Response from the Chair Chair Chair

Most of you will have seen the first email here... it's the most recent Update announcement... we post this email thread in the interests of openness and so that Cr Leach cannot claim that her 'correction' has been overlooked... and we post, too, for the benefit of the people of the City of Greater Bendigo so that they may see the calibre of Councillor they have elected...

On 7 Aug 2015, at 9:40 am, steve <costerfieldantimonyissues> wrote:

Good morning Costerfield Update Community!

And welcome to our new members... Apologies for this rather long Update (and the rather long post that it points to), but it has been some time and there's been a bit going on :)

A few months ago we put the Costerfield Update Community Updates :) on hold for a while in anticipation of some turn around of events in light of the appointment of the facilitator. Time has been ticking away and we are now approaching yet another ERC Meeting (13 August; come along!). A meeting to which some in the community (those most impacted by the Splitters Creek Facility) are still to be allowed access... Not too much seems to have changed from where we sit.

We are still dealing with organisational incompetence and ignorance at these meetings. From the mouth of the Chair:

"How can you have mud and dust in the same place?"
"Can't they just move to another tree?" [On being told that a tree with an occupied bird hollow in it had been cut down; as if there were a relocation scheme for affected birds]
"Particulate monitoring? What's that?" [Seriously!!! After all that's happened!]
"Oh, don't get all sciencey on us, Steve." [On being informed that temperature inversions can affect noise levels]

This aversion to science (and to the effort to edumacate herself on even the most basic scientific principles involved in mining) means that, in essence, discussion of geology, climatology, water, dust, zoology, chemistry and just about anything else, is off the table for the Environmental Review Committee... we can't be getting all "sciencey" and confuse the Chair, now, can we?

Recall too that the Chair wanted to bring in the police to control the Meeting! Incompetence. And she did nothing to correct the lie in the Bendigo Advertiser about the crusher roof.

The Wappentake Valley Community has no confidence in the Chair.

We have sat back and remained silent... in good faith. We do have confidence that things will change for the better. But we still wait and while we wait we still have to deal with the inadequacies of the status quo. And we don't want our silence to be mistaken as satisfaction... So...

We have assembled a new post that brings together and into context a few of the events that have been unfolding during our downtime. Just so you can see that the shenanigans haven't stopped. Brazen. And so we advise anyone considering such a course of action, Don't Bother Going to VCAT - CoGB and the Regulators Have Their Own Priorities...

We've actually been posting quietly in the background so here are links to some of the quiet additions to the database... Our Tin Pot Gully - February ERC Presentation is interesting, we think, in that it prompted Golder Associates to attend the subsequent ERC Meeting in May. Seems we had independently (and for free!) reached similar conclusions to those reached by the global consultancy firm regarding the possibility of legacy mining contamination being additional to the levels of contamination in the Costerfield area. Additional to...

And then there are a few informative definitions of hydrogeological terms from a pretty authoritative source - Unconfined, Semi-Confined and Confined Aquifers - National Water Commission... remember that the Wappentake Creek is not ephemeral.

For years water was sprayed around the Costerfield district, ostensibly as a "dust-suppression" measure on the dusty Costerfield Roads, even unused roads (!) - and that didn't count towards the extraction licence. How much water? Well G-MW issued a licence for the extraction of 179ML/annum. But we have assembled some documents that indicate a period when extraction Increased to 584ML Per Year Over The Last Two Years... you do the maths; SKM can't.

That's all for now, but there's always more to come in Costerfield... ;)

Have a great weekend!

Regards

Wappentake Valley Community

BTW
We should note that during this downtime costerfieldantimonyissues.blogspot.com's communications with the mining company have been cordial and even amicable. So, thanks to them for that. The company has been forthcoming with unpublished historical data that greatly informs some of the questions we have been asking. Informs some of them, not answers them all. We hope to have a synthesis/summary of some of these documents up for you soon.

***

A response was received from the Chair...

On 7/08/2015 11:23 AM, Helen Leach wrote:

Steve, Steve, Steve; after the obnoxious behaviour of a certain resident I decided if the meeting was to be held offsite. Then I would want to feel safe at said meeting. Didn't say the police had to be present- just available

Sent from my iPhone

(We were of the opinion that the police are always "available"... so what is she she she going on about?)

***

The response from costerfieldantimonyissues....

Subject: Re: Costerfield Update: Don't Bother Going to VCAT - CoGB and the Regulators Have Their Own Priorities
To: h.leach@bendigocouncillors.org.au
From: steve.blackey
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 12:16:55 +1000

Helen Helen Helen,

Please do try to curb your patronising ways... this response is most unbecoming an elected official in reply to a ratepayer and landowner's detailed and documented concerns... this is community engagement CoGB style, is it? Not very impressed. Not surprised, but still, not impressed.

It is this that has, in no small part, contributed to the getting up of some residents' backs. This and the partisan position you loftily assume at meetings. The blind eye turned to patent untruths - lies - perpetrated on the people of Costerfield and Bendigo and the shareholders of Mandalay Resources through lies to the media that you have allowed to enter uncorrected into the Minutes... the ignorance displayed by your uninformed questions... the continued disallowing of a directly impacted resident to the meetings because you have decided that an apology is in order, but only from one side of the chain mesh fence... the refusal to fully support community calls for the Meeting to be held on neutral ground so that democracy can be exercised... Partisan. As if no one's mother had died and there was no dust and no noise and no contamination and everything was just peachy out there in Costerfield...

And your over-reactions! Do you really feel so threatened in and by Costerfield? That you or anyone else is potentially subject to physical harm? Really? Laughable. Perhaps it is time to hand the position of Chair over to someone else a little bit braver then... You'll have our full support in that!

Availability, presence... so now precise wording is of concern to you, is it, Helen, Helen, Helen?  Chain mesh fence, Madam Chair. Baseline figures, Madam Chair. Community engagement, Madam Chair. Conditions.

I note you do not address the other matters raised... the lie, for example. Plenty of time for that at the Meeting, I suppose. Please do read the blog post and try to get up to speed on the cumulative inadequacies displayed by the over-facilitating regulatory process that you have been involved in.

Regards Regards Regards

Steve Steve Steve


Oddly enough, we've had no response as yet...and the matters weren't raised at the ERC - which was poorly attended by the regulators. The Town Permitter, Mr Bryce Kilian managed to arrive late and remain silent. Even when prompted by the Chair for comment. We wonder why he even bothered to come. Bet he does too now.