Lightning Ridge environment and safety sweep begins

Inspectors from the Department of Primary Industries - Mineral Resources will this week commence environmental and safety sweeps on opal mines in the Lightning Ridge area for the fourth consecutive year.

The inspections will take place monthly and continue until November with the focus on the environmental and safety condition of individual claims.

According to Deputy Director General of DPI Mineral Resources, Alan Coutts, a recent review of the last three sweeps shows positive outcomes.

“Since 2002, 2546 claims have been inspected,” he said. “In 2002 around 76% of those claims incurred violations however, in 2004 the violations dropped to 34%”.

“The sweeps are part of an ongoing campaign by this Department to raise environmental and safety standards in line with community expectations and other areas of the State’s mining industry”, said Mr Coutts.

"There are encouraging signs that miners are becoming more diligent by taking care of the environment and ensuring their claims are safe. Overall there has been a positive response to the Department’s campaign, which is complimented by the efforts of the Lightning Ridge Miners Associations” he added.

Environmental problems such as excessive vegetation clearance, subsidence, noxious weeds, car and truck bodies, rubbish, oil spillage, and soil erosion are evaluated.

Safety issues include unsafe auger holes and ventilation shafts, which must be covered to prevent falls.

In past years safety issues accounted for around 70% of claim violations, where a direction is sent to the claimholder to correct the problem.

The aim of the sweeps is to encourage Lightning Ridge miners to improve their safety conditions and minimize the impact on the local environment by managing the site from the start of operations through to final rehabilitation.

But despite the encouraging trends, Mr Coutts says there are still a few claimholders who are not complying with repeated directions.

“In these cases the Department will seriously consider penalties against these claimholders”, he said.

This year there will be an initial focus on revisiting over 200 claims where directions have been ignored and where they have failed second inspections.

As part of the campaign, training in environmental management is expected to be made available to miners at Lightning Ridge later in the year.