A report commissioned by a gold mine in central west NSW has confirmed lead matching its ore has been found in the rainwater tanks of Orange district residents.
Key points:
- A new report by Cadia gold mine contradicts earlier mine communications about lead contamination
- The EPA says it will supply the report to its Cadia-focused expert panel
- An upcoming parliamentary inquiry wants to address misinformation from mining companies
The Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) was commissioned by Newcrest’s Cadia Valley Operations as part of a raft of regulatory requirements in the wake of the mine being found to be non-compliant by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
Residents living in the mine district have been reporting dust events since 2018, when a dam holding mining waste called tailings failed.
The HHRA identified that point of use water, such as kitchen tap or tank tap, was the largest risk factor for heavy metal exposure and recommended that tank maintenance and monitoring “guidance is followed”.
Released to the public on September 1, the report concludes that the “potential risks to human health from emissions from CVO is low and acceptable”.
Lead matches Cadia
The report recaps independent studies commissioned by the mine to predict community exposure to date, including a tailings dust study, micro particle shed and lead fingerprinting work done by the University of South Australia.
Lead fingerprinting allows lead to be traced to its source using isotopic signatures.
Under the lead fingerprinting section, the report mentions that lead matching Cadia’s isotopic signature was found in 40 per cent of tank sludge samples collected by Newcrest.
This contradicts the mine’s July press release that stated there was “no evidence linking Cadia to the lead sampled in district rainwater tanks”.
In a statement, the report’s author said: “The information presented in the report is accurate based on available information at the time of completion of the report”.
Newcrest did not comment on why the HHRA report included information that contradicted previous communication by the company.
“The findings of the Human Health Risk Assessment conducted by Sage Environmental shows that Cadia is operating within established health standards, and the potential risk of emissions to human health is low,” it said in a statement.
Cadia Community Sustainability Network chair Gem Green said the changing messages had undermined the community’s trust.
“The process with Newcrest and Cadia over the last several months has completely destroyed the relationship with the community,” Mrs Green said
Twice state average
Using national health data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the assessment built a picture of the health of the Blayney and Orange districts that flank the mine and compared them to the wider region.
It did this to “accurately assess the potential impact of the CVO operations on the population”.
Statistics showed premature respiratory mortality rates for the Orange district were double the state average, and rates for Blayney were approaching double. Childhood asthma rates were also elevated.
Mrs Green said regulators weren’t doing enough.
“We have an entire district which appears to have significantly worse outcomes than surrounding areas,” Mrs Green said.
“In that context shouldn’t we expect the regulators to be doing everything possible to reduce emissions from all sources?”
In a statement, an EPA spokesperson said the Independent Health Risk Assessment was “extensive” and was under review by the watchdog.
“We required Cadia to have this assessment peer reviewed before its submission and the EPA will now have its own technical specialists review the report before it is provided to our independent expert panel for advice,” the spokesperson said.
“All reporting and monitoring provided by Cadia is closely interrogated by the EPA.”
Inquiry to look at communication
A parliamentary inquiry into the impacts of metal mining on health, water and air was announced in July with the committee expected to table its findings in November.
Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann, who will chair the inquiry, said it would closely examine how Newcrest had communicated pollution incidents to the community.
“This is critical to the committee being able to make recommendations to government, including where the law needs to be strengthened,” Ms Faehrmann said.
She said there was very little oversight when it came to mining companies’ public communication.
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