Updating and reposting: Australian Mining Company wants to mine in the Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia, Southern Africa

Update - 3 July 2015

Lower Zamezi National Park 

Still awaiting the High Court's decision. 

http://savethelowerzambezi.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/still-waiting-zambezi-resources-in.html?view=magazine 

Posted by No Mining in Lower Zambezi National Park on Thursday, 2 July 2015

Court Update - retrieved from the company's website - 3/07/15

Court Update:

As announced on the 19th February 2015, the hearing of the appeal lodged by certain Zambian conservation groups (“Appellants”) against a decision of the Minister of Lands, Natural Resources and Environment Protection on 17 January 2014 to allow the Company to develop its 100% owned Kangaluwi Copper Project in the Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia which was heard on 18 February 2015 has at last been finalized.

The matter had originally been listed for final hearing on 4 February 2015 but an adjournment was granted by the Appeal Judge at the request of the Appellants who were not ready to proceed on that date.  The Judge then ordered all parties to provide final consolidated submissions within seven (7) days with the final hearing to take place on 18 February 2015 (see ASX Announcement dated 5 February 2015).  This has now occurred.

The appeal has therefore been concluded and the Appeal Judge has listed the matter on 28 April 2015 for Judgment.  The decision on the appeal to be handed down on 28 April 2015 will also deal with the stay of execution which remains in place pending the outcome of the appeal.  

As announced on the 29th April 2015, the decision on the appeal has been delayed.  The explanation given for the delay was that the Appeal Judge had not yet completed his written judgement on the appeal.  There is nothing further any of the parties to the appeal can do other than await the decision of the Appeal Judge.

~~~~

My memories of the mighty Zambezi are simple.  

In 1985, following the UN Women's Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, 

I took a few days to visit Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  

During my stay, I walked across the bridge built by Cecil Rhodes 

across the Zambezi  

between what is, these days, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  

In Zambia, I found a quiet corner of the Zambezi. 

I sat down and put my feet in its waters

 and transported myself back in time 

to schoolgirl social studies lessons about the Zambezi.

This morning I read of this - mining in a national park, a national park of world significance.  As I read this, I am mindful of what the Liberal and National Parties are doing in relation to intrusive activities in national parks in Australia.  Full-scale mining is not yet allowed.  However, the thin edge of the wedge has begun with the Victorian government allowing prospecting in Victorian national parks. 

Australia has a proud record with regard to national parks.  Our history closely follows on the heels of the first national parks in the USA. But, it seems, none of this matters a fig to political parties in Australia - except to some minor players such as The Greens.  There is a continual battle to keep uranium mining out of the much-prized Kakadu.  The Mirrar people have fought valiantly to keep uranium mining at bay and the fight continues to this day.

There is the amazing story of Djok Senior Traditional Owner Jeffrey Lee who could have enriched himself with his land entitlement but who gave the land to be incorporated into Kakadu to keep it safe from uranium mining. 

It appears that the fight to keep the national parks of Australia out of the clutches of miners will never be over.

All this needs to be borne in mind - particularly when Australian mining companies are doing business internationally.  Let me say it bluntly, governments need to be very wary - if not downright hostile - to Australian companies seeking to mine in their nations.  Their track record is poor - even from our biggest and brightest, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

These major corporations cannot be trusted from A to B - let alone right through to Z.  And these are Australia's major mining corporations.  They attract significant talent and investment to their businesses.  If they prove careless and untrustworthy, how much more should lesser corporations be regarded?  How much red carpet should be rolled out for them? 

When mining corporations have denuded the natural heritage of a nation following the dreams of dollars of struggling economies, are the clean-ups and the litigation and the court cases really worth it?

Further reading
Ok Tedi environmental disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bougainville Copper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Denying Accountability? Australia’s International Mining Shame by Jane Andrew
Oxfam - Mining
Mining: when will the scandals stop?
El Salvador suffers Australia's maleficent miners

Postscript

Lest people are tempted to accuse the writer of this post of being anti-mining. I am not.  I am currently living in my third Australian mining town.  I love each of these three towns dearly and they have been a formative part of my life.  

However, I have lived around mining companies long enough to understand their secrecy; to understand the cabal of support they attract from governments, civic and business leaders.  I know that if there is a choice between corporate interests and community interests, the corporate interest will be paramount.  

I believe in mining.  It has been part of the human condition for millenia.  Mining, in my view, is a part of the human condition and enterprise.

I believe that communities must be watchful in their own interest in regard to mining activities in their areas - particularly environmentally with regard to water and pollution of soil, air, and water.  

I believe that communities need to safeguard their health and not take the company word as the be all and end all of the story.  

I believe that communities have to demand more from their governments so that political leaders are not resorting to closed door deals, nods and winks with mining corporations.  

I believe that, in the end, human communities are more important than governments and corporations.  Their well-being must prevail.

Land grabbing - is it part of the problem or the solution?

The sadness that has been visited on Bimblebox Nature Refuge

China First has been approved but the fight to protect Bimblebox has only just begun Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Dear Bimblebox Supporters, Many of you would have heard the bad news by now. At lunch time last Friday (9th Aug) the Queensland Government released the news that the Coordinator General has approved the proposed mine that will destroy Bimblebox Nature Refuge (known as the Galilee Coal Project or the China First Project). Obviously 'disappointed' is an understatement for what we're all feeling right now. You can see our new blog post on the decision here, including a link to a letter from Campbell Newman prior to the 2012 Queensland election, promising that under an LNP government "coal mining development will not be allowed in areas of high conservation value".  What do they think Bimblebox is!? This is far from the end. On signing the conservation agreements with both State and Federal Governments over ten years ago we promised to protect Bimblebox in perpetuity, and that’s what we intend to do - but we will need your help! Next Steps Clive Palmer's Waratah coal still needs: Federal Government approval - The mine will be assessed over the coming months and we will call on you to contact the new environment minister right after the election. Mining Lease and Environmental Authority - When Waratah Coal applies for these there will be a public notice and the opportunity for concerned community members to submit objections to the Land Court.  A water licence - To dewater the aquifer that neighbouring properties depend on and which may interconnect with the Great Artesian Basin Waratah Coal need a water licence from the QLD government we will need to lobby hard to ensure the government puts water above coal. Finance – By demonstrating our opposition to mining the Galilee Basin we will hopefully make potential financiers aware of the local and global environmental consequences of this mine.  We will be calling on you over the next few months to be more involved in this campaign. Please stay posted. If you would like to lead a local action group in your area to organise events at key moments for Bimblebox please get in touch. Donate China First is not the only project proposed for the region; the multiple mega coal mines proposed for the Galilee Basin will have significant repercussions for biodiversity and our vital groundwater resources, not to mention the global climate! The GVK/Hancock Alpha Coal Project was the first, and so far the only mine in the Galilee Basin to receive approval from State and Federal governments. Some landholders in the region (including Paola) have put in objections to the mine and are now in the Land Court ensuring there is some independent scrutiny applied to this project. We urgently need funds to help ensure we have the best experts and legal advice for this landmark case. We are spending a whole heap of our own money but we know many of you out there want to help. Big or small contributions will be greatly appreciated! Click here to contribute. Donations through this link go to Mackay Conservation Group's Bimblebox Fund who are supporting the campaign so that your contributions are tax deductible. You can also give us a call to arrange alternative donation methods on 07 49853474 Participate On the 25th of August we encourage those of you in Brisbane to head along to the Rally for the Reef. Because, of course at the end of the rail line from the mines in the Galilee Basin will be huge dirty ports covering communities with coal dust and putting more strain on our important Great Barrier Reef. 11am Sunday 25 August 2013 Queens Park, Brisbane RSVP via facebook or just gather your friends, make a Bimblebox placard and head along. And for those who don’t mind getting their hands dirty and can spare a good chunk of time there is plenty of work to do around the nature refuge. If you’re interested in coming out send us an email! Thank you for your ongoing support, With a fighting spirit, Paola, Ellie, Sonya and the rest of the Bimblebox Team PS - Please consider making a contribution to our legal fighting fund and forward this email to friends and family.

Be our friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2013 Bimblebox Nature Refuge, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have expressed interest in receiving updates about protecting Bimblebox Nature Refuge from mining Our mailing address is: Bimblebox Nature Refuge Bimblebox Nature Refuge Alpha, QLD 4724 Australia Add us to your address book

Marine parks, marine people, and world heritage: how people can be ignored in conservation practice

The Centre for Policy Development (CPD) has to-day published a document by CPD fellow and former Work Bank economist Caroline Hoisington titled Insuring Australia's Marine Future.  I have embedded the document in this post for easy reading or downloading.

The document makes the case for marine protection.  Hoisington posits that Australia's national network of marine parks will act as an insurance policy for commercial and recreational fishing.  I support this concept - in principle.  I have grave reservations about practice based on what I saw happen in my neighbourhood in relation to the World Heritage listed Wet Tropics in Queensland.

The Bluewater Ranges between Townsville and Ingham

It is all very well to provide legislation to protect. But this is not a set and forget game. I used to live in a place where, if you went up to the end of my road, the World Heritage Listed Rainforest began .... and was uttlerly neglected. 

Based on my experience, two things must accompany legislation. Local residents must be involved and supportive. In my neighbourhood I felt like my family were the only people who knew of the close-by world heritage area even fifteen years after its declaration. The locals are important because, if something is going wrong and they are supportive and watching over the area, they will be first reporters. The second thing is that management plans for the entire area must be available immediately or almost immediately after declaration. 

The world heritage area near me - after chasing tiny sleeper cutters out on 31 December 1988 - became an area of great weed infestation and the wild pigs and cattle more problematic than they had been previously. There was no management plan for a very, very long time. The Army and the Air Force had facilities in this area but I saw no evidence that they shared an environmental interest in this world heritage area to the extent of hastening a management plan or assisting in management of the area. 

So as someone who lived beside the reef for most of her life, I am supportive of marine parks, I am also sympathetic - based on my experience of living in the shadow of world heritage - with the fishing family in the Gulf who say they have never been consulted and yet they hold extensive knowledge of the Marine Park. 

I am also unsympathetic to the scientist I saw on the same TV program who seemed to be totally reliant on far-away computer modelling and mapping. This may be a major factor in mapping marine areas. It will not, in one iota, keep marine parks in excellent condition. Only co-operative human interest and involvement at the local level under sound management plans can do this.

Further to my comments about the locals being ignorant that they were living in the shadow of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Listed Rainforest, here is an entry for the town of Bluewater.  There is no mention of the close-by Bluewater Ranges and their world significance.  In my view, this is because local people were not consulted nor were they part of the demands for the world heritage listing. Most of that noise happened in the Cairns region.  The local people feel little or no responsibility for the world heritage area.  Whether people there feel a connection to the area is unknown to me. I only know that my family did.  My late husband was a regular visitor to the area. He formed a friendship with one of the sleeper cutters who had a small mill on the banks of Keelbottom Creek.  We valued that area. Whether the sleeper cutters should have gone and the military allowed to stay, I don't know.  The sleeper cutters were a part of the forest heritage too ... but, to some decision makers, people and their social history have little value.

Further reading: Reef faces permanent coal, climate change damage

URGENT! Help save Bimblebox from the Carmichael mine-strosity. Submissions close to-day

Make a submission today on the Carmichael mine-strosity! Thanks Getup! for initiating this mass submission to the Carmichael Mine EIS. We hope all supporters of Bimlebox will sign it and pass it along to family and friends. The Carmicheal Mine will be one of the nine proposed mega mines in the Galilee Basin. Gautam Adani’s record in India is less than pretty in abusing the environment and its people. He is loaded with corruption charges. (check out this clip from ABC 7:30) Welcome to Australia, you are in good company! Thanks everyone for your ongoing support. Paola The Carmichael Mine-strosity The Carmichael coal mine by India's Adani Group would be Australia’s largest coal mine, producing 60 million tonnes of coal per year during its 90 year lifespan. Global environmental impacts: The mine would have a maximum production capacity of 60 mtpa. This amount of coal, when burnt for electricity generation, would produce 128.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, greater than the 2009 carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion in Sweden, Norway and Denmark combined. Environmental impacts: The Carmichael project’s 40 km long open-cut mine would destroy approximately 10,000 ha of land including most of the Bygana West Nature Refuge (approximately 1,100 ha) – a highly diverse area supporting two endangered regional woodland ecosystems and containing habitat suitable for a variety of animals including koalas. Thanks to our friends at Greenpeace for their research and ongoing activism on this issue. Make your submission here (only takes a minute) More information on the mine: This mine will have unacceptable impacts on nationally threatened species and on regional supplies of groundwater and surface water. There are two nationally threatened species, the plant Eryngium fontanum and the Black-throated finch (southern) for which this mine will remove or damage habitat “critical to their survival.” The proponent proposes to clear nearly 10,000 ha of what is likely to be deemed habitat critical to the survival of the Black-throated finch (southern). The impact of the groundwater draw down from this mine on the endangered plant, Eryngium fontanum, is not assessed at all despite the nearby Doongmabulla Springs being critical to its survival. The Environmental Impact Statement for the project has not fulfilled its terms of reference for the following nationally threatened species and communities: Koala, Waxy cabbage palm, two endangered plants, Eryngium fontanum and Eriocaulon carsonii, and the endangered ecological community, the community of native species dependent on natural discharge of groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin. There is no assessment of the impact of the mine and its consequential impacts on the nationally vulnerable Waxy cabbage palm, including intensification of flooding of the riparian zone caused by the proposed levy banks on the Carmichael River, and of the impact of the dramatic 30m draw down of groundwater expected in the 60th year of the mine’s operation. There is no assessment of the impact of the dramatic levels of drawdown of groundwater expected for this mine on groundwater-dependent species in the surrounding area. There is no adequate assessment of cumulative impacts of the project on three key threatened fauna species, Black-throated finch (southern), Squatter pigeon and Koala, particularly with reference to groundwater and extensive clearing for this and other mines in the Galilee Basin. At its greatest extent of operations and development, after approximately 60 years (of a ninety year mine life), drawdowns of up to between 30 to 60 m have been predicted for the groundwater table in the vicinity of the Carmichael River. The proponent does not seem certain about how much water this mine will use, and there are contradictions in the EIS on this question, ranging from 4 to 25GL harvested from flood water, groundwater and the Belyando River. The EIS needs to clarify how much water it will draw from the various sources identified and what impact this will have downstream and on groundwater. As the proponent proposes to fulfil their water needs from ground and surface water harvesting, there needs to be a closer examination of the impact this will have at the subcatchment level. The overview of water use in the Belyando/Suttor catchment is too coarse to understand the impact of the mine on water resources, and more detailed work on the water use and impacts on the Carmichael and Belyando Floodplain subcatchments is needed before the public can accurately understand how this mine will impact on the region. Please share this urgently with friends and family. Submissions close today!

The Liberal National Party ideological war on National Parks using cattle, shooters, mountain bikes, and horses

Is there a concerted ideological war on National Parks 

by the Liberal National Party governments of Australia?  

The case -------------

Picture from here

1.  Victoria - grazing in National Parks.

Picture from here

2.  New South Wales - shooting in National Parks

Picture from here

3. Queensland - mountain bikes and horses in National Parks

I don't know what is happening in National Parks in Western Australia 

but would be happy to receive any similar information from there.  

I have deliberately not mentioned the Wild Rivers legislation in Queensland.

That's not in the same league.

Related articles

• Fears of unsupervised NSW national parks hunting
• Queensland environment
• NSW to host parks conference
• US National Parks May Open To Mountain Biking

THE MINERS ARE AT THEIR DIRTY WORK AGAIN: SAVE STEVE'S PLACE

Now, dear Networkers, just in case you get it wrong. Miss Eagle is not anti-mining. I've lived in too many beaut mining towns to ever be anti-mining. However, I do think it is high time they just took a look at themselves. They are heading for Steve Irwin's place in Cape York, Queensland. Don't let the miners get hold of it and wreck it. Just a signature could do it so get over here straight away. Please and thank you.