I was contracted by mining consultants, RW Corkery P/L as part of a team of consultant ecologists to assess the effects of a proposed gold mine and processing plant at Majors Creek, NSW. Work entailed providing advice on relevant threatened ecological communities, particularly Tablelands Basalt Forest; a literature review in the context of the forest being potentially groundwater-dependent; and fieldwork relating to the ecology and conservation status of the locally endemic Araluen Gum.
This information was required to satisfy Federal and NSW government regulatory assessments. The mine proposal was contested in the Land & Environment Court, having been approved by the Department of Planning. My work was used in those proceedings as a Statement of Evidence, but I was not required to be cross-examined. The Court approved the mine with additional conditions of consent, some of which related to ecological protection and monitoring. The mine entails reworking and extracting beyond a highly disturbed and polluted goldfield. It will fund major weed removal and decontamination of the site.
