Report on Community Meeting

Paul Smith spoke about the details of the project.

1. Introduction and welcome to community, including landowners, five Local Aboriginal Land Councils, community members and people who are generally interested in the environment and heritage. And thanked Allan Morris for providing the Memorial Hall for the meeting. 

2. Background: The Exploration Licences were applied for about 2 years ago and they were granted as 6 licences in Feb and April 2019 to Paul Smith as an individual (not a company) to explore for metallic minerals. The exploration licences have strict conditions which are detailed in the granting by the Department. The licences are due to expire after 2 years. 

3. The work programs, as approved by the Department, allow for collection of soil and rocks by hand-operated tools and basic geophysics. All work is to cause minimal disturbance and exploration cannot be carried out unless there is an access agreement with the landowner or controller of the land.

4. The access agreement is outlined by the Department on its website and it is the industry standard for the work. Accordingly, payment of $1,300 is to be paid to the landowner and the details are contained in the contract. The draft Access Agreement can be downloaded from the next separate page of this website (or by searching the Department's wesite.) 

5. Heritage, biodiversity and prime agricultural land must be considered. The five Aboriginal peoples are: Purfleet/Taree, Forster, Bunyah, Birpai, Nungaroo. They will be treated with respect and recognition.

6.  Communication with all parties will be most efficient by using the website.

Many questions were asked and some of the main ones were as follows. 

Q1. Why Nowendoc and this region?

Nowendoc and the surrounding country is at the southern tip of the New England Orogen. Geological data which was gathered by others many decades ago, has been archived and there has been little exploration since.  The old data shows that the geochemistry of soil samples and the geophysics of the magnetic/gravity intensities for the region, are compelling. The project now uses a modern interpretation of the geology of the region that takes into account continental drift and plate tectonics. The underlying rocks were produced by volcanic eruptions on the seabed about 500 to 300 million yers ago. At that time the region was several kilometres under the sea. The region is classified as an island arc with ridges and trenches, with upwelling and subduction of the seabed. The seabed became covered by sediments of clay and silt which became compressed to form layers of shale and other rocks on top of the volcanics. Eventually the seabed was thrust to the surface and joined to the Australian continent. The Great Serpentine belt is the evidence of this join. Since then, weathering has been breaking down the rocks and erosion has been removing the  soils and rocks. At the moment, the original volcanic rocks, which may contain orebodies, are still below the surface.  

Q2. What metals are you exploring for?

The volcanic rocks could have carried metals from deep within the Earth. Those metals could inlude copper, nickel, chrome, cobalt and many others. These are the metals which the exploration aims to find. Electric vehicles and rechargeable battery systems are starting to revolutionise our everyday life. Renewable energy needs these types of metals to store and transfer energy. Sun, wind and other forms of renewable energy need new batteries to store the energy. Many countries are aiming for a zero carbon emmission by 2050. These metal are vital for this change to energy consumption. The metals are needed so that we can reduce carbon emissions and reduce the rate of climate change. 

Q3. What if a landowner does NOT sign an access agreement?

If there is no access agreement, then I will not explore the property. (There is a provision in law for arbitration in order to seek access, but I will not be doing that.) 

Q4. What happens at the end of the licence?

The direction of the project will depend on the results of the exploration in the period ahead.  If after two yars, the project has been a failure, then the exploration licences will not be renewed and others are entitled to apply for these areas. If the project has made some discoveries then an application will be made to renew the licences. In this case, it would be hoped that a drilling program would be the focus of the follow-on project.  Underground targets would be investigated. Drilling is an expensive process which would require additional funding and that presents opportunities for potential partners.

Q5. How will the people and the community benefit?

During the exploration process of the next two years, there will be very little impact on the community. If there is a follow-on project there are potential benefits and opportunies for the community to become actively involved in some way. At the moment it is hard to be precise, but my feeling is that the community, LALC, stakeholders and the project should aim to develop a treaty. This process would aim to reduce any potential negative impacts as well as ensuring that positive impacts are shared by as many as possible. The prcess would have to include improvements in biodiversity.

Q6. What is the next step?

Once access agreements have been signed off, the next step is to start exploring. In this regard, next year at the same date and place we should meet again to discuss progress and any concerns.