WORRIED Morangup locals have formed an awareness group after raising concerns about a possible development in their community.
Morangup borders the Avon Valley National Park and has Toodyay 30 kilometres to its east.
Calling themselves the Avon and Hills Mining Awareness Group (AHMAG), the residents have come together to oppose a planned bauxite mine by Bauxite Alumina Joint Ventures (BAJV), a partnership of Bauxite Resources and Yankuang Resources.
The mine is part of the Felicitas Bauxite Mining Project which would mine bauxite for processing into alumina.
The Felicitas Project is located mostly in the Shire of Toodyay with some extensions in Northam and Mundaring Shires.
The resource starts 1.5 kilometres south of the Perth to Kalgoorlie railway line, extending 20km south across Morangup Road and Toodyay Road to a point 5kms north west of Wundowie.
The Felicitas Project property areas total about 6300 hectares.
Inside this, the bauxite covers about 3100 hectares, of which 1900 hectares is completely cleared farmland, 225 hectares is parkland, cleared farmland with some isolated paddock trees and 960 hectares is bush.
The resource consists of approximately 230 million tonnes of bauxite ore and would operate for at least 25 years, with about 120 hectares mined each year.
AHMAG president Brian Dale said the AHMAG had a host of issues with the project.
These include noise and light pollution, an increase in traffic, the possibility of the company expanding to other locations and potential reduction in property prices.
“One of our big issues is dust contamination into our rainwater tanks,” he said.
Mr Dale said the concern was particularly relevant given Morangup receive easterly wind gusts and residents only use rainwater tanks given a lack of scheme water.
Another issue raised by the AHMAG was the clearing of bushland to establish the mine.
BAJV general manager Bill Moss said clearing and rehabilitation were done progressively during the life of the mine.
"When the mine planning study is done, final numbers will become clearer as not all of the bauxite under bush will be mined and some small areas may need to be cleared outside the bauxite coverage for infrastructure,” he said.
Mr Dale stressed the AHMAG was not an anti-mining group, stating there were vast deposits of bauxite ore elsewhere and of better quality.
“To propose a mine in this location, so close to metropolitan Perth and so many Morangup residents is socially and environmentally irresponsible,” he said.
Another concern Mr Dale had was where water would be sourced to suppress dust.
Mr Moss said water was mainly used for dust suppression on haul roads and stockpiles.
“There is no processing other than crushing carried out on site which also significantly reduces water consumption,” he said.
“Consultants have just been engaged for preliminary water investigations.
“Desktop surveys have commenced and will be followed by field work (monitoring bores and test wells) into winter.
“This study work will help us to get a better estimate of our water requirements and the balance between the use of recycled drainage water and groundwater.”
The BAJV website said the mine would employ 120 direct full time workers.
Mr Moss said they expected most of the positions would be filled by individuals who were already living and raising their families in the region.
“BAJV will place preference on local candidates,” he said.
“During the development of the project, we will work with local suppliers to help them build their capability to provide materials and services on competitive terms to the mine.
“Updates are on our website and Facebook – click the follow button for automatic updates."
Mr Dale said he thought jobs would be predominantly drive-in, drive-out for metropolitan workers with little local benefit for Morangup.
“There may be some local jobs, but at what cost?” he said.
The length of the conveyor had also been raised as one of the AHMAG’s concerns.
Mr Moss said at its maximum, the conveyor could be up to 15km long.
“Our current plan is to use a conveyor system to transport bauxite from the operating pits, through the mine footprint to a crusher at the north of the mine,” he said.
“This has several advantages – using a conveyor dramatically reduces the amount of trucking on mine haul
roads as the bauxite only has to be trucked from the pit face to the conveyor.
“This reduces the potential for dust generation and reduces the need for water.
“A conveyor system designed for low noise emissions will also be quieter than trucks.
“It is likely mining could start at the northern end of the resource and progressively move south, with the conveyor being progressively extended.”
Mr Dale also cited Toodyay’s recent national Tidy Town competition win, and the fact the town was listed as a national top ten tree change location.
“How does mining fit into that?” he said.
“We have asked BAJV for a community meeting and it has been refused, they only want one-on-one meetings.”
Mr Moss said over the past three years BAJV had had one-on-one meetings with landowners and community
groups including Morangup residents and had shared information with the Shire of Toodyay and surrounding shires.
“We have written personally to community members providing them with information about BAJV and the company’s Felicitas Project," he said.
“As part of this engagement, we invited community members to let us know how they would like to be engaged in the future and what information they would like to discuss.”
Mr Moss said BAJV took the initiative to open a ‘shop front’ in Toodyay last year, as a place people could visit to get information about the Felicitas Project.
“There is a newly established community advisory group, with two Morangup residents on the committee among others, which is intended to open the door to the local community and establish an avenue for wider community engagement from individuals representing a cross-section of the community,” he said.
“We have also engaged with local community and environmental groups, inviting them to participate in our research information sharing with the approval process and on environmental field excursions.
“We will continue to work with many of these special interest groups as they relate to interest areas of the project.”
Mr Moss said the project had not been referred to the EPA for assessment yet.
“We anticipate the referral will be made around mid-year and expect that the approval process may take 18-24 months, with a further 12 months for construction,” he said.
“In the meantime, we are undertaking a range of engineering and environmental studies that cover environmental and social impacts, economic viability, engineering, mine planning, logistics and infrastructure options.
“Input from the newly formed community advisory group as well as our broader consultation with stakeholders will be used to ensure that important community issues are addressed during design.”
