NSWMC chief executive Nikki Williams said the concerns of some community members about potential subsidence impacts caused by mining on water systems were being hijacked by anti-mining groups intent on raising fears through scaremongering campaigns.
Williams was responding to the launch on Wednesday of a video documentary by Rivers SOS. The group is a coalition of environmental/ community groups/bushwalking clubs who say they are concerned with “the wrecking of rivers in New South Wales, Australia by mining operations.”
“Rivers SOS inaccurately portray underground mining near rivers as high risk and unmanageable. In fact this environmental impact is very stringently regulated by the NSW Government through the Subsidence Management Plan (SMP) process,” Williams said.
“Rivers SOS wrongly imply that negative subsidence impacts near rivers occur frequently. The reality is that such impacts are rare and depend on complex factors specific to each mining situation.
“While impacts can occur from mine subsidence, rehabilitation techniques have been developed and advanced scientific methods are used to predict, measure, mitigate and remediate impacts on rivers,” she said.
“The reality is that mining operations occur under and near many water bodies throughout NSW every day without incident. The successful longwall mining operation under Lake Macquarie is an example.”
Williams said mining companies have taken responsibility for subsidence impacts in the past and would continue to do so in the future, and that huge efforts go into minimising any impacts in the first place.
