Words can’t explain how disgusted we are that ERR has shown such complete disregard for all that the people of East Gippsland went through during the 2019-2020 fire season and the delays to recovery brought about because of Covid. The map below shows the extent of the fires. Hundres of homes and properties lost, thousands of kilometres of roads, more than 1,000,000 ha of State Forests and National Parks and untold numbers of native species incinerated. And yet ERR is encouraging (no doubt financially as well) mining companies of dubious background and practices to apply for licences over our beautiful part of the world.
To see if your property has had an exploration licence put over it go to https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/licensing-approvals/location-of-licences/licences-near-me and type in your address. If you are thinking of buying or selling a property in East Gippsland the estate agent must inform you of any licences or licence applications. If they haven’t we suggest you contact Consumer Affairs (https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/) or the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (https://reiv.com.au/about-us/contact-us).
Earth Resources have accepted 17 applications for new Exploration Licences since the 2019-2020. Many were not advertised in accordance wit the Department’s own guidelines. And most importantly the majority were snuck in while the East Gippsland community vulnerable and still reeling from the fires and the impacts of Covid. The companies who have swept in like vultures are an absolute disgrace – but perhaps nowhere near as much of a disgrace as ERR. What a pity the time and money they have put in to supporting primarily $2 companies wasn’t put towards something decent like archeological studies of the fire affected areas.
GELANTIPY TO BUCHAN – DART RESOURCES NL (NO LIABILITY)
ERR continues the madness of accepting licence applications when it can in no way regulate the licences it has already accepted. The latest is Dart Resources NL application for an exploration licence over almost the whole of the Buchan Valley – from north of Gelantipy to south of Buchan. True to form the advertisement does not meet the requirements of the Act (no local places names, local roads or other identifying features and the company address is incorrect).
A look at Dart Resources NL has us thinking they should be named Dodgy Resources. 80 pages of documentation in their Current and Historical statement, countless changes of directors and very dubious share holdings. Who are they really the front man for? They are a public unlisted company and anyone is entitled to ask for a copy of their shares and options register to determine just how much financial backing they have for their dubious venture (and whether they will be able to meet all the guarantees they’ve given landholders).
They do hold shares in other companies of equally dubious distinction.
Dart Mining have also applied for EL007722. That licence does not appear to be advertised in any local paper and it seems they can’t even get the compass direction right. Aren’t they fortunate that ERR appears incapable of implementing its own guidelines?
And then of course we have Iluka – who caused so much grief in the Western District. They are another company ERR chose not to regulate properly so now more than 8 years after closure, the Douglas Mine is still not rehabilitated. Worse still was Iluka (aided by ERR, DHHS and the EPA) challenging Horsham RCC’s decision to reject responsibility for regulating the infamous radioactive Pit 23 that Iluka wanted ‘removed’ from its mining licence and declared a waste dump.
That clearly illustrates how little support the people of East Gippsland can expect from ERR if they approve Iluka’s applications which extend from Bairnsdale to Orbost. The company made it quite clear on recent radio interview that, not only are they willing to lie about the extent of rehabilitation they’ve done in Vic, and the ‘benefits’ of mines ot communities, but that the only real interest they have in the community is the level of opposition there might be to a mine.
