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| Clean water is a must for native wildlife |
The authorities are all there in force. The NPWS is working closely with Bellingen Shire Council, Taronga Zoo, Department of Primary Industries, Wildlife Health Australia (WHA), the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and WIRES as well as the local community from Bellingen who are helping where possible.
Boats are being launched from Lavender's Bridge to head up river taking samples and collecting sad and or dead turtles along the length of the Bellinger River.
The NPWS have sent samples for testing and Dolphin Marine Magic are care-taking some of the turtles and have also sent samples for testing. This is good to at least have two testing platforms with which to compare results.
I woke up yesterday morning with a vision of the turtles and in this vision I could see gravel trucks and rocks and a quarry. I thought I was seeing the quarry up behind Dorrigo. I needed only one lead to bring my vision into full clarity.
The road work on Waterfall Way just past the Nut Farm which has been wanting since the floods of 2009 was commenced on 17th May 2013 and finally completed last year in February 2014 by RMS with funding from the $4 million allocated by the O'Farrell-Stoner Government.
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| Quarry site from the air at Valla. |
I think the incidence of toxicity could come from those rocks and the cyanide and or arsenic toxicity that the local Valla residents are continually speaking up about and who are conveniently not being heard? Gold mines are not nice places. The mine sites are toxic time bombs waiting to explode.
The rocks when first transported from the quarry to the job site were being washed on site. This process was suspended allegedly due to the mess it was making. The mess it was making was running into the Bellinger River. The Bellinger River is adjacent to this RMS Job Site. The rocks were put in place and the job was completed.
This area experiences an above average rainfall and lately we have had above average plus rainfall, therefore those rocks are continually being cleaned by the action of rain. Rain would then wash the run off into the river and in the river is where the turtles live. The turtles do not like the contamination of heavy metals which are the results of gold mining, metals such a mercury, antimony and the use of Cyanide to process the gold. All of this could have been transported from the quarry site to the RMS Job Site on Waterfall way, and done so knowingly as well. It cannot be said it is not known as many have complained about the quarry for years because of the damage it continually causes in the local Valla area.
"We would like to look at levels of arsenic in the environment from the dust that is coming off the quarry." Valla ResidentThis quarry is now no longer locally owned and operated. It is a Queensland company and its name is South East Queensland Excavation Quarry Solutions, and the locals in that are are up in arms about the fact of the doubling of the quota of rock allowable out of the quarry. This was supposed to be scaled back. It appears no one is listening to the residents of the quarry area either who are continually smothered with dust full of arsenic. READ MORE HERE on the Valla issue.
Gold and what is left behind these days is a time bomb if they continue to mine this substance and dig up the earth for so little return and such a great damage bill to the environment. Gold is a costly substance in so many ways.
The majority of gold ores are classified refractory because the gold mineralogy is contained in sulphides. This type of gold is typically very fine gold or locked in solid solution within sulphide minerals pyrite and arsenopyrite (FeAsS).
The arsenic bearing pyrite is commonly known as arsenian pyrite and can contain gold in its structure. Rimming of pyrite with arsenic-rich assemblages is often common as well as arsenopyrite-marcasite-pyrite associations.
The gold-pyrite association is dependent on ore grade and textural features of the ore. When present with pyrite, arsenopyrite commonly will have significantly higher gold grades than the pyrite associations.
Enargite (and Luzonite) is a common copper-arsenic mineral that can be a significant gold carrier.
Other less common are chalcopyrite and other sulphides and sulphosalts such as pyrrhotite, covellite, arsenides, and antimonite. Pdf
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| The waters that flow into the Bellinger |
News Links :
RMS : Roads and Maritime Services
- 03 Sep 1929 - VALLA GOLD AND ARSENIC MINES.
- pomvallajagnfnal2.pdf
- Valla Mine (Nambucca Heads Gold Mine; Valla Arsenic Mine), Urunga, Raleigh Co., New South Wales, Australia
- Map of Valla Mine in New South Wales showing Valla Beach (highlighted in purple) - Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia
- Valla Quarry wins green light to almost double production capacity - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
DMM : Dolphin Marine Magic
NPWS: National Parks and Wildlife Service
BLOGS: Bellinger River Turtles
Updates: Courier Sun
Images @ Eminpee Fotography
