Tasmania and Bald Hill

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Published: Friday, 12 August 2016 21:32

Last month while holidaying in Tasmania I was driving along the Midland Highway towards Hobart and about 8 kilometers out of Campbell Town I could see huge red mounds on the ridge line.

Before long it became clear I was looking at stock piles that had been pushed up from Tasmania’s first ever bauxite mine “Bald Hill”.

I knew that Australian Bauxite Limited had been granted approval in late 2014 to operate the first new bauxite mine in Australia in over 35 years, but I did not know where the mine was actually located. That was until the stockpiles appeared as an obvious blight on Tasmania’s landscape.

Curious as to what locals thought of bauxite mining close to their town, I visited a few of the local shops including the local council licensing agency. I asked each person what the red mounds were on the ridgeline on the way into town and everyone was oblivious to the fact that a bauxite mine had started literally under their noses.

When I asked the council employee where the local Shire Council building was, I was told that it was in Longford, some 45 minutes drive from Campbell Town. One could assume that this coupled with poor community consultation from Australian Bauxite could be the reason that locals knew nothing about bauxite mining on the door step of their own town.

Given the initial information vacuum that occurred in the Toodyay shire, with no information coming out of our shire and little to none coming out of BAJV / BRL (Tenements now 100% owned by Yangkuang Bauxite Resources) I was not surprised to find out that locals knew nothing about Bald Hill.

In fact after speaking to people from other towns around Tassie no one knew that a bauxite mine had started operating on the Island.

Further investigations uncovered an article written by Rachel Dally-Watkins who writes for Australian Mining Review, Australian Bauxite Limited managing director Ian Levy was quoted in the article as saying “Australian Bauxite have a company policy that no matter what the law, we will never go where we are not invited and we will only operate where we are welcome”.

I guess that only applies when people know you are there in the first place.

However, his statement only further cements what we already know, “and that is” mining companies do require a social license to operate. If we are to successfully oppose bauxite mining here, then we must never allow a social license to exist.

Those who do not wish to speak out within our communities and wish to remain silent, merely enable mining companies like these to get a foothold where they are not wanted.

The only way to stop bauxite mining here is for everyone to find their voice, because if we don't, we know what the Chinese government have planned for us.

Brian Dale