GUARDING THE CLARENCE RIVER

 For many years Clarence River health has been a concern for people living in its very extensive catchment.  Past health threats including plans to divert major flows to the west or the north have been met with very strong community opposition which led to these plans being dropped. 

More recently the threat posed by the uptake of mining leases in the search for critical minerals has alarmed the river’s protectors. The Clarence Catchment Alliance (CCA) has been alerting the community and local councils to how damaging mining pollution of the Clarence would be to the drinking water of over 100,000 urban dwellers as well as important local industries including fishing, agriculture and tourism.  Its recent public meetings in Grafton, Copmanhurst, Drake and Dorrigo were the precursors for a deputation to Sydney several weeks ago.  The CCA, along with many in the local community, want the State Government to ban mineral mining in our catchment and this was the case they took to the State Government.  If the Government fails to act as it should, the campaign will continue.

Clarence River health and the need to protect it in the long term is the focus of another group which has been gathering community support in recent months.  The Clarence River Guardians, launched early this year, has a range of members including representatives from organisations including First Nations people, the CCA, Canegrowers, Clarence Council, environment groups, Landcare, and local High Schools.

The River Guardians have developed a citizen science project in partnership with Southern Cross University.  This project will help establish parameters and scientific information that will assist in protecting and understanding the Clarence and its catchment.

The first part of the project is a baseline study of river sediments where volunteers, in collaboration with First Nations Custodians, will collect 100 or more river sediment samples from key locations across the catchment on October 18-19.  Samples will be analysed for over 50 elements including heavy metals with the data being stored as a community resource. 

For more information or to volunteer, check  https://www.clarenceriverguardians.net

-        Leonie Blain

  Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 27th  August, 2025.

PERPETUAL POLLUTION

 A highly successful roadshow was conducted locally over the last weekend in July, focussed on the social, environmental, cultural and economic threats posed by mining.

 The events, held at Copmanhurst, Grafton, Drake and Dorrigo, were organised by the Clarence Catchment Alliance which had invited the Environmental Defenders Office to advise landowners of their rights when approached by a mining company requesting access to their properties.

 Among the many threats that are posed by mining, is the potential, particularly in mountainous landscapes in high rainfall areas, of the pollution of waterways as a result of tailings dam failure. However, a lesser-known pollution threat comes from acid mine drainage (AMD), aka acid rock drainage.

 AMD occurs naturally when sulphide minerals in the waste rock from mining react with air and water to form sulphuric acid. This acid leaches out metals in the rock, which can enter nearby waterways, or even seep into groundwater.

 In the USA it’s been described as the largest environmental problem facing the mining industry, with the international organisation, Earthworks, presenting a stark picture of the impacts, describing it as “perpetual pollution”. This is because it can continue indefinitely, long after mining has ended. They point to a literature review that concluded that “no hard rock surface mines exist today that can demonstrate that large scale acid mine drainage can be stopped once it occurs”.

 AMD also occurs across Australia, including here, in the Clarence River catchment. Drake’s Mt Carrington mine has long been known for AMD, and was responsible for polluting Sawpit Creek, a tributary of the Clarence, in the mid-1990s, and is likely still seeping into the river today, despite significant expenditure by both the mining companies responsible, and NSW taxpayers.

The NSW Derelict Mined Lands Rehabilitation Program spent $155,000 on AMD rehabilitation in the Drake area in 1996, with a further $100,000 budgeted for 1997, and ongoing expenditure ever since.

Now, following a string of failed mining ventures at Mt Carrington, Legacy Minerals, has acquired the mine, announcing yet more exploratory work.

 Can we really afford the risk?

 

-        John Edwards

 Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 6th August, 2025.

FAST-TRACKED MINING IN CLARENCE AND COFFS DRINKING WATER CATCHMENT

 Media Release

5th May 2025

 The Clarence Catchment Alliance (CCA),  local environmental groups and residents are calling for immediate action as mining exploration for antimony and tungsten escalates across the Wild Cattle Creek area near Dorrigo, a sensitive part of the drinking water catchment relied on by more than 80,000 people in the Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour regions.

In a matter of months exploration licences have been fast-tracked under the NSW Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy, allowing companies to progress rapidly despite operating in flood-prone, high-rainfall headwater regions. One licence was granted just four months after application, and additional licence applications have since been lodged and approved, many bordering national parks, public forests, and endangered species habitat.

Alongside these approvals, private landholders on the Dorrigo Plateau have begun receiving formal letters from mining companies seeking land access for drilling. Many residents say they had no prior knowledge of nearby exploration activity, and feel overwhelmed and unprepared to respond, particularly following a core sample spill at Bielsdown Bridge on the Coramba Road in April, which has since been reported to the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

“We all know how toxic Antimony and the mining of other heavy metals can be, with the past poisoning of the Urunga wetlands a stark reminder. Therefore, this latest incident on the Bielsdown Bridge should come as a timely warning that accidents can and do occur, and that this type of mining activity in these rugged, highly erosive hinterlands of the Clarence Valley, pose an unacceptable threat to our drinking water,” said John Edwards, CCA member and long-term local environmental advocate.

The affected waterways include the Clarence and Nymboida Rivers, which are essential for farming, fisheries, tourism, and the daily water needs of multiple communities. They also support Eastern Freshwater Cod, platypus, koalas, and intersect with Aboriginal cultural sites that are deeply significant to Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr peoples.

“Industrial mining developments in our high rainfall river catchments are dangerous and highly inappropriate,” said a spokesperson for the Blicks River Guardians. “The risks of contamination are unthinkable for the health of the Clarence–Coffs Harbour regional water supply and the reliance for coastal townships on clean drinking water. Heavy metal contamination in Wild Cattle Creek, the Blicks, and Nymboida Rivers will impact Clarence catchment communities for millennia.”

Despite these concerns, exploration is being promoted by the state as part of a national push for critical minerals. While exploration approvals proceed quickly, many communities and landholders are finding out after licences are granted or land access is requested, rather than through early and meaningful consultation. There is increasing concern about the lack of transparent regional planning, minimal public information, and the absence of cumulative impact assessments across multiple communities and licence sites. There are currently 40+ mineral exploration licences (ELs) held across the Clarence Catchment.

“This exploration is not only irresponsible, it’s dangerous,” said Shae Fleming, Coordinator of the Clarence Catchment Alliance. “To be fast-tracking mining for a toxic metalloid in a drinking water catchment, in flood country, without full environmental scrutiny or proper consultation, puts entire communities and ecosystems at risk. The NSW Government is failing its duty of care to regional people.”

The Clarence Catchment Alliance is calling for:

• Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour Councils to urgently lobby the NSW Government for a moratorium on mineral exploration in the Coffs-Clarence drinking water catchments.

• NSW Ministers for Water, Environment, and Regional NSW to immediately place an embargo and move to revoke all licences in the Clarence drinking water catchment and review fast-tracked approvals under the Critical Minerals Strategy.

• Local State and Federal MPs to formally oppose the Wild Cattle Creek exploration licences.

• NSW MPs to back the 26 March 2025 Notice of Motion by Clarence MP Richie Williamson, calling for stronger protections for the Clarence River Catchment.

This is about protecting the life of our river systems, the safety of our drinking water, the rights of landholders and Traditional Owners, and the economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing of an entire region. The Clarence Catchment must be protected — now and for future generations.

EARTH MATTERS SESSIONS IN GRAFTON START IN MARCH

 The Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition (CVCC) is restarting its Earth Matters environmental information sessions on March 18 after a break in 2020 following the advent of covid. 

These public events, introduced in 2004, were held every two months between March and November and were conducted by a range of people from the community, or from government or local environment groups. Sometimes the goal was acquiring information about an issue while at other times it involved exploration of an idea, the seeking of a solution or celebrating the wonders of the natural world.

The range of subjects over the years has included sustainable farming, climate change, the impact of light at night, flying fox ecology, cane toads in the Clarence Valley, Grafton’s tree heritage, riparian vegetation on the floodplain, native bees, waste management and recycling, inspiration for your town garden, conservation in north-west Tasmania, national parks in India and Bhutan, and restoring rainforest.

Recently the CVCC decided to restart these public information sessions.  The new venue is the Joan Muir Community Centre in Turf Street, Grafton.  Sessions will be held between 6 and 8 pm on the third Monday of the month in March, May, July, September and November.  The events will generally consist of a presentation by one or more speakers for an hour, followed by a short question and discussion session and light refreshments.  Those attending will be asked to contribute a gold coin to assist with expenses.  

The first two presentations have been arranged and the CVCC is looking forward to providing the community with information on a range of important environmental matters from March onwards.

Proposed Mineral Mining in the Clarence Catchment is the subject of the first Earth Matters session on March 18.  Shae Fleming, Clarence Catchment Alliance Coordinator (CCA), will discuss the current situation on mining in the Clarence Catchment, CCA's role, the community campaign's aim and progress to date, the threat of mineral mining to our local water, species, environment, social, cultural and economic wellbeing and how you can help.

-        Leonie Blain

 Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , February 6, 2024.