Environmental groups have raised concerns about the impact a proposed goldmine in WA’s Great Southern will have on Carnaby’s black cockatoo populations.
The Ausgold mine site is about 36 kilometres from the town of Katanning.
The proposal includes the clearing of up 50 hectares of native vegetation containing 82 trees with hollows — potentially impacting the breeding, roosting and foraging of the endangered species found only in Western Australia.
In the company’s submission to the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Ausgold said it was exploring offset options but had yet to finalise them.
A map of the proposed mine project site, with the pink section showing an area that would potentially be cleared. (Supplied)
The options include revegetation of woodlands in the district and cockatoo foraging habitat, as well as the addition of about 100 Cockatubes artificial nesting boxes.
Dean Arthurell from the Carnaby’s Crusaders said the loss of the trees would have a significant impact.
“Offsets just facilitate more clearing and destruction,” he said.
“It can take 200 years for a tree to form a hollow to accommodate these guys.”
Limited habitat
Mr Arthurell said broader impacts of the project were also worrying with the nearby Woorgabup nature reserve one of three key habitats for the birds in the Katanning shire.
“The impact on the population, they’ll certainly decline, and it’s not only due to the [clearing] proposal but the impacts of light pollution, noise pollution, dust, widening of roads and clearing of ancient trees that we’ll see them potentially disappear from these areas for good,” he said.
“We need to look at that remaining habitat, which is absolutely minuscule for these birds,” he said.
Endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos need large nest hollows to breed. (Supplied: John Tucker)
Ausgold executive chairman John Dorward said stringent environmental checks were being undertaken at a state and federal level.
“The permitting around the environmental front is very rigorous and we have designed the project to minimise our impact as much as we can, so we leave large areas of standing eucalyptus woodland intact,” he said.
“We don’t want to make more of an impact than we have to to put this project into production.”
Getting the balance right
The mine is expected to employ about 250 people during construction and 350 full-time staff when in production.
Shire of Katanning president Kristy D’Aprile said the council had been working to ensure the local community could get the most out of the opportunities presented by the project.
“It will actually cross the boundary of two other councils, so it will provide significant economic activity and opportunity for our Great Southern,” she said.
“We have a very active LCDC [Land Care District Committee] that is working with Ausgold to ensure they protect our environment as best they can.”
Kristy D’Aprile says the council has been working through concerns with Ausgold to ensure the local communities can benefit. (ABC Great Southern: Sophie Johnson)
Mr Dorward said the mine was expected to produce about 1.14 million ounces of gold over the life of the mine, based on the drilling completed so far.
“At the moment, we will be producing for 10 years, but I think it will go a lot longer,” he said.
“We’re producing around 140,000 ounces of gold per annum, which is a substantial amount of production, and that will enable us to continue investing to continue expanding that mine life.”
Mr Dorward said they were aiming to have the first gold pour by late 2027.
Ausgold is yet to make a submission to WA’s Environmental Protection Authority.
