The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority has launched an investigation into Cadia goldmine near Orange after local residents, including children, reported blood tests with high levels of selenium, nickel and copper.
In a statement, the EPA said Newcrest’s Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd was issued on Friday with a draft pollution prevention notice and a draft licence variation regarding the management of emissions of dust and other pollutants at the central west goldmine.
The company has until Tuesday to respond.
The EPA has also written to the NSW chief health officer requesting a full health risk analysis to determine if dust from the mine is having an impact on the health of the community.
Tony Chappel, the NSW EPA chief executive, said industry had strict obligations to meet clean air standards and “currently Cadia appears to be falling well short of our expectations”.
“Last week, the EPA received new evidence from the community to suggest actions by the mine to reduce dust pollution have not been effective,” he said.
“Understandably, this community needs answers and so too does the EPA.”
Guardian Australia understands that at least 1,000 people are estimated to be affected by heavy metal dust attributed to the mine.
Most of those who have reported concerning blood test results and contaminated rainwater live within 15km of the mine in villages such as Forest Reefs and Errowanbang. Testing of the water supply in Orange, 22km away, has not revealed any contaminants.
The EPA investigation follows years of lobbying by residents, coordinated by the Cadia Community Sustainability Network, which organised for rainwater tanks to be tested. They provided those initial results, which found unsafe levels of lead in a third of all sample tested, to the EPA and NSW Health in March. Both NSW Health and Newcrest then conducted their own testing, the results of which have not been released.
NSW Greens spokesperson for the environment and regional communities, MP Sue Higginson, said what is happening within the community around Cadia is “shocking”.
“When people, including children, are returning blood tests with heavy metals present and water supplies are contaminated with lead and other heavy metals, we have failed,” she said.
Higginson put forward a notice of motion in the NSW legislative council last week, which flagged the blood test results and stated that “concerned residents have not received adequate responses” from the EPA, the Department of Planning or NSW Health.
The EPA said it will re-test the mine’s main vent and ask the company to deploy a smart sensing network to allow real-time monitoring of air pollution.
The draft licence variation also calls for the finalisation of an independent health risk assessment by NSW Health, and for the mine to engage a specialist to identify the source of the lead found in the sludge at the bottom of nearby rainwater tanks.
The EPA said the investigation will run parallel to a seperate investigation into Cadia, which commenced last year and also relates to air quality concerns.
“We understand the community will have questions and we want to work closely with them throughout our investigation,” Chappel said.
Cadia’s acting general manager, Mick Dewar, said the company takes its environmental obligations and concerns raised by “some members of the local community” seriously.
“We have and will continue to work openly with them and the EPA on their concerns raised,” Dewar said in a statement.
“Aligned with the draft licence variations, earlier this year, we commenced a full human health risk assessment through SAGE Environmental, a comprehensive community drinking water sampling program, a lead isotype testing program through the University of South Australia, and a 12-month dust fingerprinting program through Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
“As a long-standing member of the local community, with many of our workforce, also local residents, we see ourselves very much part of this community. Nothing is more important than people’s health and safety, and we remain firmly committed to making sure that we meet all of our statutory obligations and do it in a way that is aligned with our values.”
A community information session will be held at Millthorpe on Tuesday.
