Draft mining policy finds support

MORE than 45 Yorke Peninsula farmers voted a resounding ‘no’ to mining on prime agricultural land at a meeting in Arthurton on Thursday night last week.

They had come to hear from Grain Producers SA board member Max Wilksch.

The fifth-generation farmer from Yeelanna on Eyre Peninsula had crossed the gulf to talk to locals about a mining policy drafted by GPSA’s Agricultural Security and Priority Committee, of which he is chairperson.

Mr Wilksch said with 95 per cent of YP covered in mining leases, there was no better place to discuss a policy about mining on farming land.

“If this isn’t the best farming and grain producing land in SA, show me another area that is,” he said.

“So I ask you, why would you dig this land up?”

GPSA does not have a policy regarding mining and Mr Wilksch said it was clear to him the issue was demanding attention.

“It was evident to me that GPSA is funded by farmers and many farmers are more concerned about the threat of mining than, say, the monopoly of supply chain issues,” he said.

“If the farm and your livelihood is threatened that is your priority – the other issues won’t matter if you can’t farm.

“This is a draft policy, which if ratified by the GPSA Board, will hopefully be released to the public at the YP Field Days.”

Mr Wilksch gave a brief explanation of the terms of the policy before opening the floor up for questions and comments from the crowd.

Most comments centred on getting a strong message through to government, industry and metropolitan areas that agricultural land must be protected from mining. Attendees said they would support a policy which advocated for changes to the legislation which would afford greater protection to farmers and improve transparency in applications and approvals but ultimately wanted the right to veto mining on farming land.

Karina Natt

is a journalist at Stock Journal

YP farmers see bumpy road ahead

YORKE Peninsula farmer Roger Clift might not be facing the prospect of an open cut mine on his land but says he is an example of the many other ways in which mining can impact.

Mr Clift owns land north and south of Rex Minerals’ Hillside mine near Ardrossan, which he uses for cropping and running stock.

The Yorke Highway, which runs from the coast to Minlaton, is set to be re-routed through Mr Clift’s land near Pine Point as part of the construction of the mine.

He also has serious concerns about how mining operations would affect water tables and crops.

Knowing he will be forced to give up his land for the road. Mr Clift has tried to work with the Department of State Development and Rex Minerals to minimise the impact.

“When Rex first came to do their exploration we were told we couldn’t keep them off our land which we now know is a lie,” he said.

“We have never signed a waiver but we have listened.

“We have had meetings to try to get the least impact on our farm, which takes up a lot of our time, and while they listen to us, you know you are gone before you get there.”

Several back roads used by Mr Clift and neighbouring farmers to move machinery could be closed off, resulting in 15km of travel to get to the same destination which now takes 4.5km, without travelling on the highway.

“There are people in Adelaide drawing a line on a map without understanding the impact it will have on us,” Mr Clift said.

“They want to cut one paddock into six triangular paddocks – I can’t farm that, it is a waste.

“And when I asked how I will move my sheep they agreed to putting in a tunnel under the highway, but it is so small the sheep would have to crawl through it.”

Mr Clift said he believed operations at Hillside were responsible for drying up his bore on another property south of Pine Point, although he cannot prove that.

In March 2013, he discovered the motor of the submersible solar pump he had installed there only months earlier had burnt out. With no mains water available, the 24-metre deep bore is the only source of water for stock and supplies the farmhouse.