COPI MINERAL SANDS PROJECT

RZ RESOURCES LTD. – COPI MINERAL SANDS PROJECT – WENTWORTH NSW

The EIS is currently on display with the NSW Department of Planning.
There is a Mining Lease application lodged with Mining, Exploration and Geoscience.

MEDIA RELEASE – 5 JUNE 2024

MURRAY RIVER THREATENED BY PROPOSED COPI MINERAL SAND MINE

The State of NSW may be about to fast track a Mineral Sands Project located in the South Western corner of NSW which would pose a serious risk to the Murray’s water quality. The mine site will be approximately 25 km from Lake Victoria, the Murray River and the Great Darling Anabranch River.

The mine will be a wet mine, using a dredge, with some processing and concentration of the minerals on site. The project will extract highly saline groundwater to use in the sand mining operation. Mining waste, which includes salt, heavy metals and radionuclides will be cycled through above ground storages and mine pits.

There is a risk that unintended surface flows of waste could discharge to Lake Victoria & the Murray. There is also the risk that contaminated groundwater from the mine site could impact Murray Darling area aquifers.

The government considers the project to be of ‘state significance’ to the NSW economy and there are limited opportunities for the local farming community to have a say. The mining company, RZ Resources, has recently released the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). However as the far west of NSW is sparsely populated there may be insufficient submissions before the Planning office to require the scrutiny of a public panel hearing.

Affected farmers have only 14 days to make a submission to the EIS process. Technical documents supplied by the mining company for public scrutiny amount to 1000’s of pages. An obvious omission to these documents is a human health risk assessment by radiation exposure from dust produced by mining activity and processing. Farmers in & near the project area making EIS submissions are finding the consultation process overwhelming and affecting their livelihoods and mental health.

MEDIA RELEASE ENDS

For more information / media contact
Ian Magee, Spokesperson for the Alliance for Responsible Mining Regulation
enquiries@ARMRvic.com

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

WHERE

The application is over two farms, 96km from Wentworth in NSW, 130km from Mildura. The mine site would be approximately 25km from Lake Victoria and the Murray River. It would also be close to the Great Darling Anabranch River.

One farm has been purchased by RZ Resources. The other farm cannot be mined without consent, so the project only has consent for around 11 years of the planned 17 years of mining. This questions the viability of the project without access to half the deposit.

WHY

The project plans to extract mineral sands, mainly ilmenite, rutile, zircon, lucoxene, monazite and xenotime.

HOW

The mine would be a wet mine, using a dredge, and would do some processing/concentration of the minerals on site.

The water table below the mine is highly saline. RZ Resources plans to desalinate the water, use it in their project and then return the waste (salt) back to the pit and water table.

Apparently the water table flows to and below Lake Victoria. If the water level in Lake Victoria drops too far, salt water starts to infiltrate the lake, which is currently the case.

The minerals would be trucked to Broken Hill and loaded onto trains going to Brisbane.

The transport route through Broken Hill will go through residential streets, past a library and a preschool.

RZ Resources has leased the Pinkenbah Mineral Separation Plant in Brisbane and plans to process each mineral in Australia.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

RZ Resources has had meetings with many neighbours about the project, but no-one had been allowed to view the EIS.

Finally RZ Resources released the EIS, but no-one has been informed about the radioactive materials.

PROBLEMS

The documents submitted by COPI to Planning NSW for the EIS process are grossly inadequate for the task, as many technical reports are not present.

Initially, some issues that present in the exhibited documents are –

• The orebody is Loxton-Parilla sands, as present at the Avonbank and Goschen sites.
  This indicates that the level of Uranium and Thorium in the radionuclides present will dictate that HMC stockpiles cannot be exposed to the weather or handled with traditional mechanical equipment. The submitted technical reports do not seem to include an assessment for radiation exposure to workers to allow preparation of a safety assessment.
• That saline groundwater will be extracted to support dredge mining.
  That saline groundwater will be stored in surface dams and ultimately transported as surface water flow, or via groundwater movement, into Lake Victoria.
• Pollution of rainwater supplies with heavy metal.
  Farms in the area are completely dependant on rain water/dam water for domestic supply and livestock.
• That as the NSW regulator has allowed the adjacent Ginko mineral sand mining project to continue mining without conducting progressive rehabilitation, this practice may transfer to the Copi project
• That without substantial fresh water supplies, the arid environment makes it extremely difficult to re-establish native vegetation
• That the company will require that ratepayers ultimately bear the cost of rehabilitation of unsealed roads
• That there is sufficient information in the public arena to suggest that the regulator should assess that certain company staff will not satisfy the requirement of fit and proper persons to manage a mining project under mining legislation.
• That the company may not have considered the sustainability of the project when it is required to offset it’s carbon footprint as required by State and Commonwealth legislation.
• That the Commonwealth Mineral Strategy is unlikely to permit the export of certain rare earths to the intended market in China.

ENFORCEABLE UNDERTAKINGS

There are big concerns about RZ Resources, their poor compliance history and lack of social licence. We question their ability to run a mine, handle radioactive materials, and not risk the greater community’s health.

The Resources Regulator commenced an extensive investigation into 10 of the 14 exploration licences, following a site inspection. as part of a compliance audit in 2020. It was found that RZ Resources Pty Ltd (RZR) had committed over 100 offences under mining legislation in NSW across multiple titles. 

In lieu of prosecution, the Regulator accepted an enforceable undertaking from RZR. They have been found guilty of providing False and Misleading information to the NSW Resources Regulator.

The Regulator continues to monitor all operations undertaken by RZR to ensure compliance with its regulatory requirements.

PDF DOWNLOADS
RZ Compliance History
RZ Mining Act Undertaking
Mining Act – Variation of Authorisation
Decision to accept a Mining Act undertaking given by RZ Resources Ltd