Farmers in northern Victoria are concerned dust and contaminated runoff from a proposed mine could contaminate their crops and rainwater in one of Victoria's prime agricultural regions.
The Victorian government has appointed an independent panel to conduct an inquiry into the proposal, with hearings underway this month. He says he was laid up with a broken hip, leg and arm suffered during a farming accident in 2017, when two VHM representatives came knocking on his hospital room door.
"We have rainwater tanks for everything: for eating, drinking, cooking, washing ... all of our rainwater is harvested from the roofs that are going to be covered in radioactive dust," Nola says."This is Cannie Ridge that's so renowned for being probably the best cropping ground in the southern Mallee," Nola says.
But not everyone is against the proposal. For some businesses in the nearby town of Kerang, the mine's promise of bringing hundreds of jobs to the region is a rare and exciting one.He says a new industry bringing more people to the town would mean more customers. To mitigate this risk, he said the mine would be designed to capture water run-off from rainfall events lasting up to 72 hours.Eight potential mineral sands mines in VictoriaSix other sites are in planning and exploration stages, covering thousands of hectares of Victorian farmland.
Minister for Resources Madeleine King said the list would "help attract the investment we need to build new industries, create jobs and reduce global emissions".Food-bowl farmers fear mining law changes will leave them with 'no say in what happens in our own backyard'Four days, five unrelated stabbing attacks: Sydney's horror week puts spotlight on knife crime