A group of members of the Belubula Headwaters Protection Group is feeling emboldened by recent international environmental protests and is planning a number of protests against the McPhillamy's gold project.
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BHPG member Ruth Stone said that their first event is a peaceful sit-in outside the Regis Resources Open Day and that it was time to try to engage the Blayney public as to the potential risks of the mine.
Ms Stone said that BHPG members were doing a great job analysing the EIS and doing an amazing job completing research and information gathering, but felt that there was scope for more public awareness.
"As we've seen around the world these types of protests bring major focus to these kinds of issues," she said. "For us it's all about water and the environment."
Fellow BHPG member Tim Hansen said that he doesn't think that many residents fully understand the impact the mine will have on the area.
"Time is becoming very short to do something about it," he said.
"Many people still don't realise that the Belubula River starts at the mine site and flows all the way down through Blayney, Carcoar and Canowindra before it joins the Lachlan."
Ms Stone said that she felt that Regis's emphasis on jobs was becoming tedious and was being used as a diversion from the real story of the impacts on water and the environment.
"The fact is that the mine will also impact jobs like the beekeepers and organic producers that may lose their accreditation," she said.
Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
