Corazon Mining has begun exploratory drilling at the May Queen target on Mount Gilmore for gold and copper in the Clarence River catchment northwest of Grafton and the Clarence Catchment Alliance are calling on locals to get involved to stop a mining licence being granted.

The company are exploring the area to locate and evaluate potential resources of gold and copper, mining has not yet begun, and a mining licence has not been granted, but the Clarence Catchment Alliance CCA are concerned that the project is rapidly progressing toward applying for a mining licence.

Last year Western Australia based Corazon explored the Gordonbrook Hill area, about 6.5km southeast of Mount Gilmore for cobalt, copper, and gold.

Although there are about 40 mineral exploration licences granted in the Clarence Valley local government area there are few mining licences held, most are old mines that aren’t active, according to the CCA.

Corazon Managing Director, Brett Smith said May Queen is a particularly exciting target.

“The entire twenty-kilometre strike of the Mt Gilmore Project displays many characteristics typical of large porphyry copper-gold systems,” he said.

“The identification of May Queen as a distinct high priority target, at this very early stage of exploration, provides a great opportunity for Corazon and will be a good initial test of the advanced mineral vectoring targeting methodologies provided by CODES and the University of Tasmania.”

The CCA put out a call to action to protect the Valley from mining threats last week.

“Yes, they are currently in ‘exploration phase’ but Corazon Mining has government funding, a land access agreement, and has completed drilling at several sites on Mt Gilmore,” a spokesperson said.

“They are trading, they aim to extract, and they are now rapidly progressing towards applying for a mining licence.”

The CCA said mineral mining will be a catastrophe for the Clarence Valley for the following reasons: 

It places our pristine rivers and critical water supplies with the release of toxic waste and heavy metals, mining will devastate the impacts of endangered species including koalas, platypuses, and the eastern freshwater cod, and mining could threaten our local fishing, farming, and tourism industries that depend on clean water.

Mining risks destroying sacred land and cultural heritage sites vital to the First Nations communities of the Clarence, mining can release of harmful pollutants that will degrade our air, impacting the health and wellbeing of our community, The Clarence Catchment is a known flood zone and mining operations could result in devastating spills into our rivers and land.

The CCA said there had been two serious environmental mining disasters in Australia in the past 5 years, at the Cadia mine in 2019 when a dam breach released toxic slurry into the environment, threatening waterways, and at the Mount Morgan mine in Central Queensland in 2020 when a tailings dam failed and polluted the Dee River with cyanide and heavy metals.

If the company are granted a mining licence, the CCA said the risk to the Clarence Valley is too high.

The group is urging concerned locals to write to the NSW Ministers for Planning, Environment, and Water to tell them that mining has no place in the flood-prone Clarence River catchment.

Visit www.clarencecatchmentalliance.com.au/get-involved to access a letter template to contact all the NSW MPs.

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 4 September 2024.