THE Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) has approved Glencore’s $368 million Bulga Optimisation Project subject to stringent conditions.
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In the PAC report, it states the commission considers that overall, the project has merit.
According to the plans the project will access 205Mt of coal and extend the life of the existing Bulga open cut mine by an extra 11 years until 2035.
But, before the project can proceed PAC has stated the future operations of the neighboring business - Mushroom Composters needs to be resolved.
Under the plans the mine will now be located 350 metres from the Mushroom Composters boundary and the impacts of dust and access to the business are conditions PAC want finalised before a determination on the project can be made.
“Prior to submission of the project for determination the relevant parties need to be satisfied that the Draft Management Framework can be technically delivered in a way that satisfactorily addresses the need to adaptively manage air quality impact on the Mushroom Composters Facility,” the PAC report states.
PAC wants the objection by the Mushroom Composters over the closure of their road access on the Crown Land Road resolved before the project’s determination.
There is also a recommendation on monitoring noise including blasting and monitoring lighting to ensure impacts on the community are minimised.
The villages of Broke, Bulga and Milbrodale are between three and four kilometres from the mine site.
The mine’s proponent is also required to continue consultation with local Aboriginal groups regarding the relocation of the Loders Creek grinding grooves.
Other recommendations concern rehabilitation of the site and water management.
Mushroom Composters general manager Geoff Martin said the PAC report meant Bulga Coal had to come to a settlement with his operations before the project could proceed.
“In our initial consultations with the company they were going to relocate our operations away from the existing site and pay compensation for the relocation,” he said.
“But that offer was taken off the table and we were left with a business that was located 350 metres from a working open cut mine.
“We might have survived if the site was 1km away not virtually on our doorstep and I think the PAC report shows the commissioners understood our problem.”
Mr Martin said he was not anti-mining but the current planning laws had swung too far in favour of the miners.
"This business employs 12 people but it supplies 15 per cent of the country’s mushroom compost and the mushroom growing industry we supply supports between 600-700 people,” he said.
“And from our compost 200,000kg of mushrooms are produced each week.
"The farmgate return from the mushrooms sold each year would be equivalent to the royalties the government will receive from this project – so why is our business to be put in jeopardy for a mine with a short life span.”
Glencore was asked to comment on the PAC report but the company declined saying it was too premature at this stage.