"Honest, open and transparent" are the three words that NSW Farmers Executive Councillor and Blayney Shire councillor Bruce Reynolds used to describe a meeting held at the Cadia Valley Operations mine on Tuesday night.
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The meeting was held as part of CVO's regular information nights for residents that surround the mine, but this meeting was centred around the shutdown at Cadia East mine, after a blocked vent rise resulted in workforce evacuations on Friday, July 22.
The cause of the blockage has been an ingress of water into the vent which sits only 50 metres from Cadia Road, which has been closed as a safety measure.
Cr Reynolds said that for the residents at the meeting the major issues and questions were about water and roads.
"Where is the water coming from? What impact will it have? Have they contacted the regulators?" he said.
"They were honest when they said that they're not sure what impact it will have on the water table and that they're trying to stop the flow. And yes, they have contacted the relevant regulators."
CVO have long had test bores around the mine site to monitor water levels and Cr Reynolds said that as yet results have not been collected.
"They don't have the results yet so are unsure if any one aquifer has been impacted yet," he said.
"They have promised that they will notify the community if there is any impact on the water table.
Chair of the Cadia Community Sustainability Network Gem Green also said that the community welcomed the frank, open and honest discussion surrounding the water and road issues and is asking the community to keep an eye on their own bores.
"If people do notice any significant changes in their bore I would ask them to step forward as it's a natural resource that's linked to so many people's livelihoods," she said.
The closure of Cadia Road was the next biggest single issue raised by the community Ms Green said.
"From an accident and emergency access point-of-view it could be anywhere up to eight weeks before that road reopens," she said.
"With all the roadworks that are already going on and the reduced speed limits it's taking an extra 50 per cent longer to make trips around that area.
"The issue of getting into Orange is the main one as the Gap Road is under repair and closed, the Errowanbang Road is severely congested with Flyers Creek Wind Farm vehicles and they're the two key routes other than the Four Mile Creek Road via Panuara into Orange.
"This is lengthening the time taken to go into Orange for shopping and healthcare as well as it being more dangerous."
HAVE YOUR SAY:
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.
