December 23rd, 2022DUD: Risk to iconic natural mineral water too high

Don’t Undermine Daylesford is a group working towards stopping the potential mining of gold in Daylesford. The group formed after Red Rock Australasia was granted an exploratory licence for the area around Ajax Road, near the former tip. Gary Lawrence is a spokesperson for DUD and is also a volunteer with the Daylesford & District Historical Society. Here he puts forward his views on the possibility of a gold mine.

GOLD mining caused great harm to the mineral spring water supply in Hepburn Shire from late 1910. And now a growing number of residents in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs are anxious at the risk any new deep gold mining creates for this unique underground mineral water aquifer.
Home to the greatest concentration of mineral springs in Australia, often referred to as Spa Country, this region has attracted visitors for more than 160 years to holiday and enjoy the natural mineral spring waters.
Local businesses have developed and flourished around the attraction and lure of the mineral springs, the charm of the local environment and its natural attractions. Put Daylesford and mineral water into your search engine and you will see the obvious connections.
Two goldmines were being developed south of the Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve much to the angst of locals around 110 years ago. They feared the mining would damage the mineral water supply as had happened some years prior a little closer to the reserve. Sure enough it was not long before the flow started to slow and the gas content diminished. The bathhouse and pavilion were closed. Protests and petitions were abundant, geologists and specialists came determined to find the cause. One of these mines tried to push on further east despite the calamity they had caused.
In 1917, Mr William Menz, a WWI soldier at the Front, wrote to his parents and family expressing concern at the loss of the mineral water. He knew how it was affecting the community back home. His was not the only letter home that mentions the failed springs.
The mineral water flow had been cut in three places. The state government finally closed these mines. They eventually compensated the mine’s shareholders and the lessees of the mineral water bottling company. The town and community were never compensated.
In December 1916, the local paper, The Advocate, reports the return of the mineral flow at the reserve while others wrote the “Old, original Hepburn Spring has returned but not at full force and only partially gassed.”
We now have a better understanding of how the mineral water forms underground from the top of the Great Dividing Range; both south and north great fault lines run and assist to form the mineralised water deep under other groundwater flows. The north of the range catchment area is defined by Goulburn Murray Water; it runs from Cairn Curran in the west to Heathcote in the east, south to Trentham and north to Eppalock. This unique natural phenomenon must not be jeopardised by intrusive deep mining.
The risk to the mineral water seems clear, any change to the underground dynamic risks mixing the layers of ground water, releasing the stabilised heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic which are in particularly high concentration in the Daylesford bedrock. Any disturbance of old historic mining operations risks the release of legacy mercury and arsenic into our environment.
Why ask our region to risk all this for a gold mining company to make a profit? The concept is plainly flawed. The responsibility for all exploration and mining licencing is with the state government. The response from Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, Parks Victoria and Goulburn Murray Water is that Earth Resources is the responsible authority for any concerns about the risks to mineral water. Earth Resources contacted me to say they were not responsible.
So it seems nobody will step up and protect our precious mineral water.
I remind all state authorities that operate in Djaara country that they commit and acknowledge Djaara’s special connection to country and the Dhelkunya Dja – Djaara Country plan. Two key aims of that plan are: “Rivers and waterways (includes ground waters), are healthy and meet the needs of our people and land, and Upside-down Country, is healthy again.”
Red Rock Australasia continue to say they only have an exploratory licence but even proposed drilling in the region will also be a risk.
I call on the state government to halt all deep mining within the mineral water catchment areas, to keep all groundwater safe and to not further disturb the legacy broken contaminated land caused by historic mining operations.

Images: Supplied