Patricia Gill, Denmark Bulletin
Denmark Environment Centre convenor Bart Lebbing is spearheading a call to ban mining in the Denmark shire.
The move comes with a pending exploration licence by the private company, United Funds Pty Ltd, and widespread community opposition to any mine in the shire.
And despite the environment centre calling on the Shire to support the ban, the Shire only has power to lodge objections and provide feedback.
Two meetings held last month at the Kentdale and Scotsdale halls recorded unanimous opposition to the exploration licence and any future mine.
There had been 35 people at the Kentdale Hall and 60 at the Scotsdale Hall.
Mr Lebbing said the exploration licence had come amid a boom in demand for metals essential for renewable power generation.
For example, lithium used in rechargeable batteries and the rare earth elements used in the powerful magnets required by wind turbines and electric cars.
Mr Lebbing, as owner of Bartholmew’s Meadery, had among others fought an application for another exploration licence by United Funds in 1987 for mineral sands.
Unlike the existing application, at that time he had received notification as a landholder of the company’s intention to apply to the Mining Warden.
But this time United Funds had only notified the Shire of Denmark and none of the landholders within the 120sqkm area adjoining William Bay National Park.
The area also adjoins coastal reserves such as Owingup, Boat Harbour, Quarrum and Parry Beach.
Mr Lebbing described mining companies’ keen interest in mineral resources for renewable energy as ‘really worrying’.
A mining tenement had been approved in January for exploration company Moho Resources Ltd covering 280sqkm in the City of Albany, 66sqkm in the Plantagenet shire and 40sqkm in the Denmark shire.
The south-west corner of the tenement is at the South Coast Highway/Crusoe Beach Road intersection and the southern boundary runs east to the Hay River bridge into the City of Albany.
Last year Moho Resources entered into an agreement with Whistlepipe Exploration Ltd to acquire a granted exploration licence and technical information for another six WA project areas for nickel, copper and associated battery and precious metals.
Since that agreement, Moho has lodged 11 exploration licences for project areas for nickel and associated battery and precious metals.
Mr Lebbing said the current United Funds application related to mining 30m below the surface which meant the applicant did not have to inform landowners.
The former application had not stipulated the 30m below the surface.
Though the Shire of Denmark had not opposed the exploration licence application when notified of it last year, it had serious concerns about the environmental impact of such activity.
They included the proximity to the Irwin Inlet and its foreshore reservation, some rural residential developments and South Coast Highway.
Concerns were also raised about stands of remnant vegetation and creek lines throughout the area and the landscape which requires protection in any development proposal.
The Shire was also concerned about the reserves designated for recreation under the Shire’s Town Planning Scheme.
Mr Lebbing cited how in 2020 Chalice Mining had discovered the Julimar deposit near Toodyay, a magmatic nickel-copper-platinum-palladium-cobalt deposit and one of the biggest of its kind discovered in recent times.
This had prompted the boom of exploration activity in the South West which hosts the Greenbushes lithium mine, one of the world’s biggest for this commodity.
All of these metals are classified as ‘critical metals’, thus classified because they are used in the green energy transition from fossil fuels.
This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 5 May 2022.
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