Minister faces legal action over stalled $1b gold mine

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Minister faces legal action over stalled $1b gold mine

The company behind a stalled $1 billion gold-mining project has launched legal action, claiming Indigenous heritage protections imposed on sections of the site are not valid.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek issued a protection order in mid-August, rejecting the proposed site of a tailings dam at the McPhillamys mine near Blayney, in central-west NSW.

The mine’s developer, Regis Resources, said on Thursday it had launched a bid with the Federal Court to overturn the decision, which it said prohibited activity on a large part of the site and would block key infrastructure.

The Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation had called on the minister to protect the headwaters and the springs of the Belubula River as a site central to creation stories.

Regis chief executive Jim Beyer said it had become clear key findings made by Ms Plibersek regarding the site’s cultural heritage value were “vigorously disputed”.

“None of the extensive expert evidence produced during the years-long processes we went through to approve the McPhillamys project … indicated there was Aboriginal cultural heritage that could not be appropriately managed,” he said.

The company is asking the court to declare Ms Plibersek’s decision legally invalid and for it be redetermined by a different minister, as well as seeking costs to cover the legal proceedings.

The NSW Independent Planning Commission approved the mine in March 2023, a process that involved consultation with Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council, the elected body for local Indigenous leaders.

Council representatives told the commission it was not for or against the mine but emphasised the importance of protecting Aboriginal culture and heritage should the project proceed.

State leaders have called for the project, which was expected to deliver a royalties windfall for NSW coffers, to be allowed to go ahead with a possible expedited approvals process if the dam needed to be relocated.

A spokesperson for Ms Plibersek declined to comment as the matter was before the courts, but she and other federal Labor figures previously said the heritage decision would not stop the gold mine going ahead.

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