A member recently contacted us to express concerns about Rex Minerals’ access to valuable River Murray water. As he pointed out, during times of drought,severe water restrictions are imposed on primary producers and residents. During the recent prolonged drought growers who held water licences (such as wineries and Riverland irrigators) had their allocations cut by 80%.
The YPLOG Committee share his concerns.
By way of background, in 2012 Rex Minerals reached an agreement with SA Water to construct a new mains pipeline from Auburn to Ardrossan and from there to Hillside,with Rex apparently contributing towards the construction costs.
This agreement will bring an extra two gigalitres of River Murray water per annum to Ardrossan and according to Rex, it “will secure the potable water capacity required for the anticipated start-up of production at Hillside” during the second half of 2015. It will be used to rinse chlorides from the ore concentrates, provide potable water for the Hillside workforce and as a dust suppressant on Hillside’s topsoil stockpiles (Rex Minerals Mining Lease Proposal, Section 3.3.4.1, p. 3-9 and Section 8 -102, 2013). To justify their access to River Murray water, Rex Minerals argue that the mine will only require 1.5 ggls of potable water per year, with the remainder ostensibly being available to supplement the water supply for other users on the Peninsula (MLP, 3.3.4.1: 3-9, 2013). This ‘justification’ for accessing River Murray water is questionable. It is highly likely that, given their plans for expansion, Rex will, in the future, require all of the available water for their mining operations with none left over for community use.
In a 2013 presentation (ASX Spotlight May 2013, Hong Kong, Singapore), Rex Minerals’ CEO Mark Parry noted that, in addition to Hillside, “within our existing exploration licence, there are 50 highly prospective targets that we will start to aggressively look at as we get through funding and start to build the plant”. Through the use of haul roads into Hillside “we can increase the life of Hillside”. Clearly, more mines mean more demands on River Murray water.What has also recently come to light is that at mine closure, potable water from the River Murray will be used to fill Rex’s slurry and sea water pipelines extending for 11 kilometres between Hillside and Ardrossan (Rex Response to Government, Issue no. 8, 2014). Rex have not explained why they intend to use such a valuable resource in this way, especially as best practice mine rehabilitation indicates that the pipeline should not be buried in the first instance, and should be completely removed at mine closure.
The fact that the South Australian Government has supported Rex Minerals’ access to precious River Murray water is contrary to their much-vaunted attempts to increase the environmental flows of the river and to protect the ecological health of the Coorong and the lower reaches of the Murray. While we are not currently experiencing drought conditions, it is certain that long dry periods will return in the near future. Yet we are unaware of any provisions to limit mains water supplies to Hillside even in extreme drought conditions. Allowing such a valuable resource to be diverted to an already suspect mining operation seems to be absolute folly. Because of these concerns, in November 2013 the YPLOG Committee wrote to Mr Xenophon, Independent Senator for SA, about this matter. We never received a reply. Nor did he respond to a follow-up letter sent in January 2014. Rex’s access to River Murray water has so far ‘slipped under the radar’.
But it must not go unchallenged. It is another example of our politicians favouring mining over the needs of primary producers. We therefore urge you to write to or email the following MPs expressing your concerns.
o The Hon. Ian Hunter MLC, Minister for Water and the River Murray and Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation
Address: Parliament House, Adelaide, SA, 5000
Email: minister.hunter@sa.gov.au
o Hon. Michelle Lensink MLC, Shadow Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation and Shadow Minister for Water and the River Murray
Address: Parliament House, Adelaide, SA 5000
Phone: 08 8237 9100
Email: michelle.lensink@parliament.sa.gov.au
With regards,
YPLOG Committee.
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