No damage to springs from Carmichael mine

No damage has occurred to the Doongmabulla springs or to underground water at the Carmichael mine, despite the Queensland Government issuing an Environmental Protection Order.

The Order relates to potential future underground mining at the Carmichael mine, which we have already publicly committed to remodelling to ensure we continue to comply with our approvals.

No breach of our Environmental Authority or any environmental harm has occurred and day-to-day mining operations at Carmichael in central Queensland continue as normal.

The Order also has no bearing on our future open-cut mining operations, which world’s best groundwater science has proven will not harm the Doongmabulla springs.

The Order was issued after Bravus Mining and Resources submitted an updated groundwater model for the area of the Carmichael mine and its surrounds to the Queensland Government as per the requirements of the Groundwater Management and Monitoring Plan, one of the suite of State or Commonwealth regulatory documents that form the operation’s rigorous environmental approvals.

We note that this is an unusual use of the Environmental Protection Act as an Environmental Protection Order is mostly used to police actual damage or immediate threatened harm, which is not the case in this instance. We are reviewing the conditions of the Order and are considering our options.

Bravus Mining and Resources Chief Operating Officer Mick Crowe said Queenslanders can be confident the company was mining in a way that protects the environment and sites of cultural significance.

“Protecting the springs has always been a top priority for us, as we understand both their value to the Traditional Owners of the area and their inherent environmental value,” Mr Crowe said.

“The Carmichael mine has some of the strictest environmental conditions of any resources project in Australia’s history.

“As part of those conditions we have been measuring groundwater levels in and around the mining area for the last five years and have now submitted that information to the Queensland Government.

“The work we’ve done shows that we are not dropping the level of the water in the Doongmabulla springs complex with any of the open-cut surface mining we are undertaking now.

“The expert modelling also demonstrates that future open-cut surface mining will not cause water levels in the springs, the nearest of which is about 11 kilometres away from our mining activities, to drop.

“While we are not doing any underground mining now, the new model does indicate we have additional work to do on our future underground mining plans to ensure they do not cause water levels in the springs to fall by more than 20 centimetres after mining occurs, which is one of our regulatory conditions.

“Prior to the issue of this Order we had already proactively and publicly committed to not mining underground before doing the necessary scientific and modelling work to ensure we continue to comply with our approvals.

“This shows the right checks and balances were already in place to protect groundwater and were working well.”

ENDS

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