Mining Update

My apologies for not posting last week. A gastro bug/virus laid me low... again. What a year!

A Land Court mediation hearing between Monto Minerals subsidiary Baal Gammon Copper and concerned residents of the Walsh River community regarding the proposed mining venture (behind our home) was held last week in Herberton. 

Save the Walsh FNQ has released the following statement:

“It was a fantastic outcome for the local residents of the area, we all feel it has been a real win, “ said group spokesperson Holly Richardson.

“We cannot divulge the full details of what was agreed upon, because of a confidentiality agreement but we can say the new proposed lease has been adjourned and absolutely nothing further in regards to the new mine can proceed until the next mediation with local residents in February/March 2013. 

This mediation will take place after the next wet season, giving Kagara and Monto Minerals the chance to prove that they can work together to address the current issues of environmental harm as demanded to be rectified in the three Environmental Protection Orders issued against them.”

Meanwhile, back at my loom, I've finished weaving the planned projects and there's not much warp remaining so I've been experimenting. Most people do samples at the beginning of their warp. I find myself doing samples at the end. 

Crackle weave threading with summer/winter treadling.
Sample: handspun white Pima cotton 2 ply weft on cottolin warp

One of my small samples has my handspun white Pima cotton (2 ply) as weft. I'm delighted with the look of it. How much the sample shrinks during the finishing process remains to be seen.

Close up shows some variation in grist of cotton weft, but not a real problem

Now that I'm feeling some energy again, I expect to reach the end of the cottolin warp tomorrow and cut it from the loom. That will mark the end of my weaving-on-the-loom season until cool weather returns next year.

Post & Photos by M in JaM

Is Responsible Mining A Contradiction?

Save The Walsh River

Lorikeets drink water from the Walsh River and its tributaries, too.

The Twentieth Century saw the development of the Mighty Extractors, powerful machinery that harvests massive numbers of trees in forests, strips the ocean of fish and removes mountain tops to reach and extract ore bodies. Fast, efficient, relentless and driven by need to profit now, they devour resources like a plague of alien locusts. And then they move on, maybe pay a fine or two that seldom actually covers the costs of rehabilitation, to find other cheap pickings and cooperative governments.

Our current system favours these behemoths.

Recently, the new Queensland government, led by Premier Campbell Newman (LNP - Liberal and National Party), terminated the Environmental Defence Office which was dedicated to protecting the environment in the public interest.

Earlier this year I reported that the nearby mining operation went into receivership after an environmental order forced a cessation of operations after contaminated spillage flowed into Jamie Creek and then into the Walsh River. Latest report is that mining operations are resuming and an expansion is proposed. We have already experienced a failure of trust in the mining company's ability to mine responsibly in our region.

We are concerned because our household water supply comes from a creek that originates near the mining area. We are concerned for the endangered Northern Quoll. We are concerned about the habitat and quality of life for wildlife as well as for humans.

Keep informed about this issue by going to:

Save The Walsh River

Post by M in JaM
Photo by J in JaM

Raise your hand if you agree

Gecko votes

We've had a hectic week. Queensland State Elections occurred on Saturday and we drove to town to vote at the nearest polling booth. Australian citizens who do not vote are fined. We would vote regardless. Despite my observation that my choice seldom gets elected, I do not take my right to vote for granted. Afterward we enjoyed visiting a local exhibition of paintings by our friends Steve and Marijke Hancock - a lovely way to refocus our agitated minds away from politics and onto appreciation of the wonderful creativity in the community around us.

Polling Booth

On Sunday we went to a community meeting to discuss the process of lodging objections to a mining lease extension to the area containing the headwaters of the creek that we depend on for domestic water. The current mining operation is located near the headwaters of the adjacent creek and has received an environmental protection order, requiring that the mine leaseholder and mine operator stop releasing contaminated water.

Bottom Pit beside Jamie Creek

Both creeks flow into the Walsh River. Dead fish have been found downstream and residents have been told not to drink the water or use it for stock after it was contaminated with heavy metals. Long time residents do not ever remember seeing dead fish in the river.

We feel concerned for the future wellbeing of our own water supply should the mining lease extension be granted. Arsenic levels are already elevated from historic mining in the area. Any further elevation could make it untenable for us to live here.

Assured last year that safeguards would be in place to avoid environmental breaches at the current mining site, we have been trying to endure the noise of continuous mining activity, 24 hours a day, seven days a week as well as lights that set the southern skyline aglow all night long. The recent contaminated water releases occurred in association with heavy rains, but heavy rains surprise no one here. This is the Tropics and it's the Wet Season. We realise there is no such environmental security as we envisioned. An expansion of mining activities would bring mining activities, water degradation, even more noise and light pollution closer to our home.

Do you detect the erosion of our sense of well-being and joy? As custodians of this land, we recognise that we have a responsibility to act to conserve our natural systems for current and future generations.

On Monday we lodged our objections.

Handspun cotton

I continue to spin and ply cotton as work with the wheel and spindle help calm my mind. And we continue to enjoy our fellow travellers – the frogs, crabs and fish in the creek, the quolls, frilled-neck lizards, bower birds, kookaburras, sugar gliders, bats – and all the fauna that depend on the permanent slow seeps and billabongs of the creek in the Dry Season as well as the generous flow in the Wet Season.

Gecko

post by M in JaM

photos by JaM

Downpours

Unusual downpours took us by surprise this month as we normally get very little rain in October. Rainfall records got broken. Lightning blew holes in concrete walls in some offices in nearby town. No one injured but damage occurred to wiring and equipment. Some close strikes near our home made my heart skip a beat or two. We unplug the telephone, computer and such, sometimes all day long, but we had no real problems unless you count a very nervous dog shedding at high rate.

The rain drenched all the bushfires and cleaned the air of smoke. Now, there's a blessing. Within hours of the downpour, we started seeing a tinge of green sprouting across the formerly dry bushland. Our waterhole likely won't go dry this year.

The mine blasting has not disturbed us as much as we feared. Keeping fingers crossed that this remains the case. The mine's 24-hour work schedule does result in illuminated southern sky at night, looking much like the aliens have landed.

Kookaburra

Kookaburras like to perch on top of this unused pipe which is leaned against a tree near the house. From there he can patiently scan the surrounding cleared ground for unwary skinks and bugs. He sometimes catches an unwary snake.

Kookaburra with snake

Spinning, like knitting and weaving, soothes my soul. My husband designed and presented me with a set of support spindles. I'm giving each spindle a trail run with cotton. The one below has an acrylic whorl with a laser cut out design and weighs around 22gm (about 3/4 oz). I'm lovin' it!

JaMspindle

photos by J and post by M in JaM