As if befitting its tumultuous history of corporate conflict and human tragedy, the life of the Tasmania Mine at Beaconsfield seems destined to end in controversy.
It was first mined during the Gold Rush years of the 19th century, was closed at the outset of the First World War in 1914 and did not reopen again until 1999.
The Beaconsfield mine has produced 1.95 million ounces of gold over the years, worth more than $3 billion at today’s gold prices, and its resources remain “open at depth”.
The deepest drill intersection grades 32.4 grams of gold, over 1.0 ounce of gold, per tonne.
Yet now, with no resistance from government or regulators, management is preparing to dump 300,000 tonnes of tailings – mining leftovers thick with arsenic, cyanide and other toxins – straight back into the underground mine itself, risking ultimately poisonous seepage into the water table.
This action might seem an acceptable risk if the mine were way out in the desert. Rather, the historic Tasmania Mine, with its famous red and yellow headframe and museum, is situated smack-bang in the middle of the township of Beaconsfield in northern Tasmania.
This site, of course, is the very mine whose fateful collapse on Anzac Day in 2006 killed miner Larry Knight and trapped Todd Russell and Brant Webb 925 metres underground, until the euphoria of their rescue 15 days later.
‘Quick fix’ accusations
Now accusations swirl that the company which runs the mine, BCD Resources, is pursuing a “quick fix” to satisfy its environment bond requirements with the state government and keep its clean-up costs to a bare minimum – at the expense of future generations.
There are two main allegations: one of “resource vandalism” as there is significant existing gold, even apart from the potential for further discovery, and the second, of environmental folly.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/buried-treasure-and-toxins-at-beaconsfield-20120803-23jq0.html#ixzz22W9yjCgR
