The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment is calling for community feedback on a proposal to develop a new gold mine located approximately 8km east of Blayney in the NSW Central West.
The Department’s Executive Director Energy & Resources, Mike Young, said community input is a vital part of the planning process and encouraged everyone to have their say on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposal.
“If developed, McPhillamys Gold Project would operate as a large-scale open cut gold mine with supporting infrastructure,” Mr Young said.
“The project would extract up to 8.5 million tonnes of ore a year for 10 years and produce 200,000 ounces of gold over the project life, enough to make around 500 gold bars.”
“Water supply for the project would come from surplus water from mines in the Western coalfields and the Mt Piper Power Station near Lithgow via a 90km buried pipeline, to avoid using local water supplies,” he said.
“Our role is to assess the development application and work towards the best outcome for the community and State of NSW, in consultation with all stakeholders,” Mr Young said.
“We appreciate the level of community interest in this project, and we want to give the community sufficient time to have their say. This is why we are exhibiting the EIS for the project for six weeks, which is two weeks longer than the normal exhibition period.”
After exhibition closes, the Department will consider all community submissions received, along with feedback from other government agencies and councils, as part of its rigorous assessment process.
The community is invited to have their say by Thursday 24 October 2019.
The Department is also holding a public information session to assist the community to better understand the assessment process and to listen to the community’s views on the project:
Location: Blayney Shire Community Centre, 41 Church St Blayney NSW 2799
Date: Thursday 26 September 2019
Time: 6:00-8:00 PM
More information and make a submission.
