The Inglenook Community Consultative Committee met on the 19.3.13 and our Association's committee member Prudence Woods was there to file this report.
Meeting commenced at 9:31 am
Summary of Meeting
Alex Brown has replaced John
Sandona (new project manager).
Steve Bracken is the Chief
Operating Officer.
Due to the current price of
coal there is a downturn in the coal industry.
Airly Mine is currently in
‘care and maintenance’. There have been redundancies and budget cuts.
There have also been budget
cuts to the Inglenook Project. For 2013 the project has been ‘slowed down but
not stopped’. The Spring Park Office will be used for meetings. Alanna and Tom
will be based at Airly. Ph 63588340 for Spring Park.
There is now one drilling rig
across all Centennial Coal western projects. The drilling rig is at Charbon
Mine, next move uncertain as Centennial is waiting for approval/access from
other landholders. They have drilled 15 sites out of a planned 28. Depending on
access/approval from landholders 3 holes may be drilled in 2013.
A Community Member asked
Centennial why the drilling rig had gone back to one particular landholder’s
place after it had been there at an earlier time. Reason for this not
specifically identified.
Another Community Member
asked if Airly Mine will reopen. Possibly, as a Mining Methods option. A
washery is included in the application. The washery from Charbon would not be
moved to Airly.
An update for the general
community will be in The Mudgee Guardian.
Centennial are continuing to
collect environmental baseline information – surface water, ground water,
vegetation mapping, meteorological station. Winery property – meteorological
station. The ground water samples will be collected for up to another 2 years.
It was suggested that this needs to continue, eg in a dry year. A community
member stated that they felt that the water study was not representative of the
entire area. Alanna responded that this was hard to do when they don’t have
access to properties. The same community member revealed that they had not been
paid for the initial water study.
Environmental monitoring will
not be affected by budget costs.
Shown a map where the drill
holes are. At the next meeting there will be a map to show where the proposed
drill holes will be.
A Community Member asked if
Xstrata was selling its interest. Not known. Alex responded that it would be
easier if one company held the one resource.
Additional Drill Mud – Rods
were stuck in some of the holes so Superfoam was used to help free the encased
drill rods. The mud lubricates the rods to allow them to be released.
MSDS: Minimum/Nil
It is not used all of the
time. A Community Member wanted to know the chemical composition. Information
not available at this time.
Incident – Collection of
surface water sample from property without providing notice to the landholder.
Response – Landholder notified as soon as possible. Centennial Coal internal
incident investigation completed.
Incident – Drill site
encroached past the demarked area (went next door, no fence line). The drill
hole was not on the wrong place. Response – Discussion
with landholder. Centennial internal investigation in progress.
Contractor issues.
Coal has dropped about $30
per tonne. About $80 a tonne.
A Community Member asked what
will happen to the railway once Charbon has closed? Unsure.
Jolieske’s Questions
1.
Have they stopped
drilling for the time being? Previously answered. Have heard the drilling rig is going to Bylong? No
connection to Bylong.
2.
If so, when do they
envisage starting again and how many holes have they dug so far? Previously
answered.
3.
Apparently there was
some water testing done a couple of weeks ago. How many sites are they testing,
and how often? About 6 sites, summary at next meeting.
4.
When are the gauging
stations going in? Apparently they are putting in 3 stations. Going through
approval process. Hopefully next 3 months.
5.
Have they had results
back yet from the helicopter survey done a number of months ago and will
Centennial give a report back to the Community on this? The helicopter
around at the moment is not Centennial. Not sure if the results for
Centennial’s survey have already been provided.
Next Meeting proposed:
Tuesday 23rd July 2013 at 9:30am.
