Cadia Mine Environment Protection License
Ms Cate Faehrmann: My question is directed to the Minister for the Environment. The ABC reported today that Newmont mining has confirmed polluted water from its Cadia goldmine operations containing arsenic, zinc, manganese and sulphate has entered the groundwater. Cadia's environment protection licence does not specify pollutant limits for groundwater or require the monitoring of any material in waste storage, and it is up for review. With the recent reforms to the Protection of the Environment Operations Act, will the Minister be raising with the Environment Protection Authority the urgent need for it to apply to the Land and Environment Court to issue orders to prevent this serious and repeat offender from holding an environment protection licence?
The Hon. PENNY SHARPE (Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for the Environment, and Minister for Heritage): I thank the honourable member for her question and ongoing interest in relation to this. If a company is operating a project—it does not matter where—it is supposed to make sure that it does not harm the environment and that it follows the rules that are required as part of the licence that it received to operate said project. The member may be aware that the Environment Protection Authority [EPA] is currently taking regulatory and compliance action at the Cadia goldmine in Central West New South Wales. Five prosecutions are underway. This is new information this morning so I do not have all of the information, but I can provide some of it. Cadia mine has confirmed that waste has entered groundwater at the site. The Government and I, as the Minister, are extremely concerned to hear about this. I have been liaising with the EPA directly about it this morning.
We want every mine site to be fit for purpose and to have best practice air and water quality controls. The EPA actively engages with property owners and community members in the vicinity of the mine and will continue to keep the community informed about the ongoing regulatory activities. The EPA is closely monitoring operations at Cadia mine and has a range of statutory powers that can be used if there is evidence of ground water pollution. Suffice it to say, the EPA is on it. I inform the House that the EPA's five-yearly licence review is currently underway. All of these issues need to be looked at as part of that statutory five-year review. I can inform the House that Cadia's environmental licence currently has no pollution trigger limits for groundwater.
The Hon. Jeremy Buckingham: Shame!
The Hon. PENNY SHARPE: That is why I am telling members. As I said, the licence is up for renewal. Groundwater will be a priority in this assessment process