The developer of a stalled $1 billion gold mine insists it could take a decade to get the project back on track as a federal protection order sparks fierce debate about Aboriginal heritage and planning.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek issued an Indigenous heritage protection order rejecting the proposed site of a tailings dam at the mine near Blayney, in central western NSW, in mid-August.
The Wiradjuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation asked the minister to protect the headwaters and the springs of the Belubula River as a site central to creation stories.
Ms Plibersek again defended her decision on Thursday, saying the order only affected the dam on the headwaters and not the entire project.
"Once this river is destroyed, it's destroyed forever," she told ABC News.
Gold producer Regis Resources had considered other dam sites and the company's claim that new approvals could take 10 years was "nonsense", Ms Plibersek said.
But Regis chief executive Jim Beyer said the order rendered the project unviable because those alternative sites also fell under the exclusion area.
"We've got quite a task ahead of us to understand what the alternative is to the tailings facility," Mr Beyer told reporters in Orange on Thursday.
It would take years to complete the necessary geotechnical drilling and environmental surveys to identify a new location, he said.
"Right now we're not exactly sure what direction we can take.
"We will look at it because it's a project worth pursuing, but we just don't know how long.
"It could be five to 10 years."
The NSW Independent Planning Commission approved the mine in March 2023, a process that involved consultation with the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council, the elected body for local Indigenous leaders.
Council representatives told the commission it was not for or against the mine, but emphasised the importance of protecting Aboriginal culture and heritage should it proceed.
Wiradjuri man Roy Ah-See said Ms Plibersek's decision undermined the recognised authority of the council.
"Not all Aboriginal people are about environmentalists, we're about economic empowerment for our people," Mr Ah-See told The Daily Telegraph's Bush Summit in Orange, speaking on behalf of the council.
"Our kids want to be a part of the economic base for future generations."
Regis executives have met with several NSW government ministers to consider potential ways forward.
Premier Chris Minns said the company should be able to "get on with it" and file a new development application without re-starting the lengthy planning process.
"The planning system in NSW is too complex, too difficult, too long, too many hoops for people to jump through," Mr Minns told the conference.
"We've said to the company, 'we don't want you to start at stage one'."
Blayney Shire Mayor Scott Ferguson said the growing region had long been anticipating a "shot in the arm" from the mine and the decision was divisive.
"This process is a secretive, disingenuous process that ... is serving to drive our communities apart, not bring us together," he said.
