BUSSELTON farmer Ron Collett is worried a new heavy mineral mine in the Yoongarillup Forest may danger rare plants and impact on water quality.
Doral Mineral Sands Pty Ltd has made an application to the Environmental Protection Authority and a review has been released.
The mine site will be located 17 kilometres South East of Busselton where there is a heavy mineral deposit.
Doral aim to extract about four million tonnes of ore a year.
The application was first brought to the Environmental Protection Authority in 2011.
Mr Collett owns a farm in the area of the proposed mine and said there were four to five endangered plant species which would be impacted.
He also said he was concerned about the Sabina River which runs through his property and the use of the Yarragadee aquifer.
Doral general manager Andrew Templeman said the project would continue the company’s mining focus in the South West.
“It will help sustain employment for our employees and contractors and will also bring opportunities to a number of supporting businesses in the Busselton area,” he said.
In the report released by the EPA it states that any threatened flora would not be cleared but marked with a tape and a 50 metre buffer will be built around the area.
It also shows Doral would not clear priority flora and will be taped and avoided and impacts to regionally significant flora would be minimised where possible.
Doral’s report shows that its temporary use of the Yarragadee aquifer would not impact other users.
The aquifer supplies drinking water to about seven South West towns.
As part of minimising the impact on water uses Doral plans to supply affected bore owners with supplementary water as required, production bores will be placed in locations to avoid impacts to other Yarragadee aquifer users and water use will be recorded monthly.
Doral expect the project would employ 32 people throughout the summer and 25 people in the winter.
Sub-contractors will also be used when required.
The public submission period opened on Monday and will close on November 17.
For view the Public Environmental Review report visit http://www.doral.com.au/view/sustainability/yoongarillup-mineral-sands-project
