Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek appears to have derailed Regis Resources’ tailings dam plan at its McPhillamys gold project, in a hurdle for the company’s mining goals.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek appears to have derailed Regis Resources’ tailings dam plan at its McPhillamys gold project, in a hurdle for the company’s mining goals.
Ms Plibersek issued a statement this afternoon, revealing she had used section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act to protect a site, understood to be part of Regis’s project, from being developed.
“I have decided to make a partial declaration under Section Ten of the ATSHIP Act to protect a significant Aboriginal heritage site near Blayney, in central west NSW, from being destroyed to build a tailings dam for a goldmine,” she said.
The statement by the minister did not name the goldmine proponent by name but coincided with a request from Regis to enter an ASX trading halt pending an announcement in relation to the project near Blayney and Section 10 of the Act.
In her statement, Ms Plibersek said the headwaters of the Belubula River had significant spiritual and cultural connection to the Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri people of the Bathurst area.
“Because I accept that the headwaters of the Belubula River are of particular significance to the Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri people in accordance with their tradition, I have decided to protect them,” she said.
The minister said her decision would not stop the mine but would require the company to find another site for its tailings.
“The company has indicated to me that it has assessed around four sites and thirty potential options for the tailings dam,” Ms Plibersek said.
McPhillamys is one of the nation’s largest undeveloped open-pittable gold resources, and had been on Regis books for 12 years before the company completed a definitive feasibility study into the project earlier this year.
Regis says it has invested more than $150 million into exploration, scientific studies and design reviews since taking the project on.
Its potential development would be a step outside of Western Australia for the Jim Beyer-led company, which is already in production at the Duketon project and Tropicana joint venture.
Speaking on the sidelines of Diggers and Dealers last week, Mr Beyer said the company was open to a JV partner on McPhillamys while highlighting the project’s full suite of approvals and permits.
“That is actually very significant in this day and age,” he said of the project’s approvals status.
“Anybody that’s got a project that they’re trying to push through [will know], there is nothing that is happening to make life easier and faster.
“So if you’re sitting on an approved, permitted project; I think it’s not going to happen overnight, but I think the market is going to slowly start to see that.
“They understand the financial metrics, they understand the physical metrics, what they’re still not, I don’t think, fully appreciating is the permitting value of having something that you can go and do.”
But the project has been subject to Section 10 scrutiny for some time, with an application submitted to the federal government in 2020 by traditional owners.
“Regis has continued to work closely with registered Aboriginal parties to assess Aboriginal cultural heritage on the site,” it wrote in its DFS published last month.
“Aboriginal cultural heritage assessments have been completed as part of the NSW Planning Approvals process and in response to an ATSIHP Act Section Ten application.”
The company also highlighted its work around environment in the region, and surveys that indicated the project had 70 per cent approval by local Blayney residents.
A video from 2020 on Regis’s website features a range of local stakeholders speaking about the potential benefits the project could bring for the area.
Regis’s DFS Highlighted a project with a pre-production cost just shy of $1 billion. The company has not taken a final investment decision at McPhillamys.
Regis shares last traded at $1.65.