Mrs Craven has lived on her Mt Olive property for 11 years and says the past two years have been unbearable.

Noise, dust, vibration and lights from the mine impact her day-to-day life to the point that she has been hospitalised for stress and is now on anxiety medication.

When she first settled on the Thomas Lane property there was no mine.

Now the north pit is clearly visible from her front yard and the clearing for the pit has left no buffer zone.

Initially it was the dust and the noise at night that had an impact. Now it is also the smell that is making her sick.

On July 2 Mrs Craven was forced to leave her property and spend the night in Sydney because a smell was making her ill.

When Mrs Craven heard about the methane levels of the underground mine she was concerned about the odour she had been experiencing for some time.

Mrs Craven’s property is not within the acquisition zone and she firmly believes it should be because she is being impacted. The mine has double glazed the windows in the home, fixed cracks in the plaster of her ceilings.

Integra operations general manager Andrew Betts said Mrs Craven’s concerns had been investigated.

“Those investigations to date have not identified any breach of any obligation by the operations at Integra relating to Mrs Craven’s concerns,” he said.

“While Mrs Craven’s residence lies outside the Integra open cut mine acquisition zone or our management zone for either noise or dust, Vale has made considerable gestures of goodwill to help address her concerns over an extended period of time.”

Mrs Craven has also had the water in her tanks tested with aluminium, magnesium and nitrate identified. The aluminium levels were above Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2004). A similar result came from a test on tank water from Camberwell residents last year. She blames mine blasting.

“When a mine blasts dust is sent into the air and settles on surrounding roofs and grazing land and what I am concerned about is what this does to a person over a lifetime,” she said.

Mrs Craven’ is currently undertaking a Department of Planning independent review of her situation to see if property acquisition can be re-considered. She lodged the application last year and is yet to receive a decision.

A vibration monitor has been placed on her property to assist in this review.