Farmer leaves gate open to mine bauxite

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Published: Friday, 12 August 2016 20:39

AHMAG Blog

Toodyay Herald March 2016

I was lucky enough to meet local farmer Peter Cook whose land in Morangup, Wundowie and Wooroloo covers roughly 90 per cent of the proposed Felicitas bauxite mine and more than half of the land for Fortuna.

Mr Cook has been farming in and around the Toodyay shire for decades and is the key to Chinese Government plans to mine bauxite in the Darling Ranges. He is much as I had imagined him to be – sharp as a tack and obviously a very shrewd businessman. A pretty fit-looking gentleman in his seventies who shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Mr Cook was very open and frank and answered most of my questions. He said that when Bauxite Alumina Joint Ventures (BAJV)/Bauxite Resources Limited (BRL) approached him to explore for minerals on his land, the first thing he did was contact another farmer, Andrew Hare, who owned the Bindoon property where BAJV/BRL had mined 130,000 tonnes of bauxite. (This was mined on an extractive industries license obtained from the Shire of Chittering without obtaining proper approvals.)

According to Mr Cook, Mr Hare told him that his experience with the companies was good and he was happy with the outcome. As a result, Mr Cook agreed to allow BAJV to explore for minerals on his own land. The rest, as they say, is history. A big bauxite deposit was found and BAJV set up a Toodyay shopfront to tell us how great mining would be for the rest of us.

The mining company continued to present a ‘business as usual’ stance even though Mr Cook said he had cancelled their access agreements in early 2015. For decades Mr Cook, who continues to buy more land, has been accumulating farmland in Morangup, Wundowie and Wooroloo and is now one of the region’s biggest landholders. I asked him why he was still buying more land and he said it was to provide access between blocks for possible future subdivisions.

Mr Cook said he believed the proposed bauxite mines would never eventuate.

Over the two hours or so that I spent with him, I touched many times on what his intentions were in relation to mining on his land, and his answer did not change. He said that for the moment he was happy to farm the land because he enjoyed the lifestyle. However, at some point in the not-too distant future, he would either apply to subdivide part of his land or sit down and talk to the mining companies if they came back to him.

He made it crystal clear during our meeting that his door was still wide open to mining on his land if terms, conditions and money could be met.

I asked Mr Cook what type of legacy he wanted to leave behind – did he want to be remembered as the man who allowed mining in the Darling Range or did he want to be known as the one who stopped mining impacting local communities? It’s the only question to which I did not get a clear answer.

Everyone has their own reasons for the decisions that they make in life so let us hope Mr Cook remains a farmer/land developer.

Brian Dale
AHMAG

Picture by Allan Rose, Morangup