KANMANTOO MINING LEASE

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (14:58): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mineral Resources Development a question regarding the Kanmantoo mining lease proposal.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: I understand that Hillgrove Copper has signalled the next opportunity for economic resources development in South Australia, with a plan to redevelop the 1970s era Kanmantoo copper-gold mine. Can the Minister for Mineral Resources Development inform the chamber about the public consultation process for the Kanmantoo mining lease proposal?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for his important question. This state's mineral exploration boom has also seen a resurgence of exploration activity in the Adelaide Hills and in other regions near our developed townships. The Hills and areas to the north and south of Adelaide are part of a geological region of the state recognised as having a very high endowment of metals, precious metals and other mineral deposits and extractive resources.

There is a historical perspective to prospecting and mining in the Hills. In fact the first metal mine in Australia was established shortly after settlement in the late 1830s at the Glen Osmond mines. There are many historical mines in the region considered to be an important early contributor to the development of the local economy and jobs in the fledgling colony of South Australia.

Some of these historic mining sites may well be reborn as a modern contributor to the state's mineral exports. Our modern day explorers are just as committed as were our first prospectors to making discoveries. There is also a good relationship between explorers and mining and extractive operations and their neighbouring communities, simply because it makes good business sense. There is mutual advantage in fostering these relationships. The industry wants communities within which it operates to benefit from the industry's presence. We recognise that mining is also a strong contributor to regional development and regional job creation.

Hillgrove Copper Pty Ltd is pursuing plans to reopen the Kanmantoo copper mine located between Callington and Kanmantoo, within the District Council of Mount Barker. Hillgrove Copper is a wholly-owned unit of Hillgrove Resources, an Australian resource company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Hillgrove is focused on developing base and precious metals within South Australia. I am informed that, if the mining operation resumes as proposed, it will initially lead to the spending of $100 million by Hillgrove to develop the site and the creation of 400 jobs in that development stage. This is expected to translate to 200 permanent jobs once the Kanmantoo mine returns to production.

Hillgrove's Managing Director, Mr David Archer, said today that the mining lease proposal at Kanmantoo marks the achievement of a major project milestone and reflects an immense amount of effort contributed by the community, Primary Industries and Resources South Australia, and other South Australian government departments, consultants and the Hillgrove team. Since its beginnings in the Kanmantoo area in the 1840s, this mine has made significant contributions to the South Australian economy. Between the 1840s and 1880s underground methods were used to mine rich copper loads until the 1970s, when a large open-cut mine was developed to access larger lower-grade copper resources.

Hillgrove recently submitted a detailed mining proposal to the Department of Primary Industries and Resources SA in support of its application for a mineral lease for the Kanmantoo copper project. This proposal is to be publicly circulated by PIRSA in the next few days. Hillgrove has been engaging with key community interest groups since early 2004, and formal community consultative meetings have been held since mid-2005. As a result of this process, the Kanmantoo Callington Community Consultative Committee (KCCCC) was formed in early 2007 to ensure continued consultation throughout the lease application process and beyond.

This level of community engagement resulted in the KCCCC making 129 written recommendations to Hillgrove on issues involving flora, fauna, non-indigenous heritage, Aboriginal heritage, noise, processing, visual, socio-economic, mining, air, odour, greenhouse gas, groundwater, traffic, integrated waste, land form and mine closure. The company has accepted 108 of the recommendations in full and 21 in principle, with some modifications, and summarised in its mining proposal how each one of these matters will be resolved.

Among the issues identified during the community engagement process, a number of high risk issues have emerged, including native vegetation clearance, transport routes and water usage. The mining lease proposal document puts forward Hillgrove's views about how risks associated with these and other important issues will be mitigated, controlled and/or managed. One such risk management technique has seen Hillgrove enter into a memorandum of understanding with Mount Barker District Council for the council to supply waste water from the council's effluent treatment facility for mining operations.

Hillgrove will process this water for reuse at the proposed mine site. Formal community consultation on the mining proposal will begin tomorrow on 25 October 2007 with public advertising of the proposal. The proposal will be available for consultation for a period of six weeks, with a closing date of 7 September 2007. During this time any stakeholder may make a written submission on any matters of interest. Issues raised in the public submissions must be fully addressed by Hillgrove. The company is required to lodge a public response document addressing those issues. PIRSA, in consultation with other government agencies, will then undertake a detailed environmental impact and risk assessment of the project before a decision by the state government on the mining lease application.

In other words, the process mirrors closely those of a major development. As I indicated in answer to questions yesterday from the Hons Sandra Kanck and Mark Parnell, the consultation that has been employed at Kanmantoo for this project is a model that we expect other proponents of a similar scale mining project to follow.