Orange gives up water to goldmine
After meeting council representatives yesterday, Water Minister Phil Koperberg said he gave in-principle support to the move because the mine was so important to the town.
The Orange City Council, in the state’s central west, now has the green light to provide 450 megalitres of water to Newcrest’s Kadia Gold Mine.
Mayor John Davis says he is relieved.
"I’m absolutely over the moon, it’s absolutely fantastic," he said.
"I think people are just starting to realise what benefit this mine is to our area.
"It’s not a case of them and us – this mining project is very unusual in the Australian landscape because it’s so close to Orange city and the people that work there are part of the fabric of our community"
But Greens MP Lee Rhiannon says the decision sends the wrong message.
"It’s sending a very bad message to the farmers across New South Wales that mining comes before farming interest when it comes to the New South Wales Government," she said.
She says it sets a worrying precedent.
"There are mining companies across New South Wales that have got water problems, who are trying to buy up more licences and who have got their hand out for increased allocation," she said.
"It looks like under this Labor Government, that they will do very well and that they will be looked after before agriculture and the environment in rural New South Wales."
The water transfer is expected to start within weeks.
Council votes away town supplies as mine threatens to close: At an emotion-charged extraordinary meeting on Monday night Orange City Council voted to redirect 450 million litres of town water reserves to the mine. Newcrest Mining had threatened to close Cadia and axe 450 jobs within six weeks if it failed to find the water to continue.