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Anchor Mine 'rehabilitation'

At a meeting between interested parties on 2011/03/01 MRT provided assurances that the mining exploration license over 62 sq.km over the Blue Tier would be issued to ACCCGE subject to strict environmental regulations and that neither local residents nor those who depend upon the water would be adversely affected by exploration, and presumably, future mining activities.

Assurances before the event are easy enough to provide but as a measure of how much credence we can place upon these we need go no further than look at how successfully the vacating miners had 'rehabilitated' the Anchor Mine which closed in recent times.

• The entrance gate that was meant to keep out vehicles for Phytopthora control has been left open for many years and it is not uncommon to find trail bike tracks in the dam. Since Forestry Tasmania has so far failed to prevent trail bikes from traversing from Weldborough to Poimena we have no reason to believe MRT is going to be any more successful in blocking vehicular access to any roads built for exploration or mining.
• A decade after the operators ceased work and 'rehabilitated' the mine the area looks more like a moonscape (pix 2) than the wet forest surrounding. Even silver wattle seedlings have difficulty establishing due to lack of nutrients and unsuitable soil conditions.
• MRT has presumably refunded the security bond [2011/06/08 - advised that MRT is still holding the bond] they held to ensure that old workings were properly rehabilitated. It appears that the miners idea of this was to bury their rubbish under a mound of sand (The Sarcophagus) in the dam. Recent heavy rains have cut a channel adjacent and exposed some of the rubbish they have buried (pix 3). It remains to be seen what else they have buried in the dam.
• Since the mine ceased operations the contents of the settling ponds (lower pond, pix 4), including whatever chemicals that were used, have been slowly flowing into the George River which forms the St Helens water supply. We are requesting MRT for help to narrow down the likely chemicals used in order to test for water quality.
• As there are no records of oil ever being found at the Anchor Mine the oil sheens on the surface of standing water is likely to be from what was disposed of at the mine. That this persists a decade after the mine ceased operations points to large quantities having been disposed of this way.
• We are curious about the chemical reaction forming precipitates at some of the seepages below the dam (pix 1 & 5) but expect MRT would be able to provide the answer without much difficulty.
• There are rumors that current owners of the lease are considering its sale to another miner. Interested parties may care to examine seepages leaks below the dam before signing any contract.

 

MRT was notified of our concerns, and to its credit sent up a staff member promptly (2011/05/26) to look at the situation. More personnel is expected to come up shortly to study the problems in more detail and hopefully to resolve some of these. We expect they would have something to report in due course.

 

[All images on this page were taken in 2011; page posted 2011/05/30 and edited subsequently.]

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