The Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project will be located 15 km east of Minyip and about 66 km north-east of Horsham in the Wimmera in north western Victoria. This is a vital food cropping area where family farmers grow a range of products including wheat and lentils for domestic consumption and export.
The mine will be a joint venture between Australia’s Astron Limited and US company Energy Fuels, and will mine both light and heavy rare earths, which are used to manufacture products such as magnets, electronics, defence systems, and clean-energy technologies.
It has secured all necessary project approvals. What it needs to proceed is finance.
The Australian taxpayer will be tipping in almost $200 million to get this project started. On October 27, the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) and Export Finance Australia (EFA) separately announced financial support for the project. NRFC’s backing includes up to $110M in senior debt to support, while EFA approved up to $70M in financing.
The impacts of this mine will be devastating for the farmers who will lose access to their land (and hence livelihoods) for decades. The Donald project has already seen the destruction of up to 150 mature Buloke trees (Allocasuarina leuhmanii). In the Wimmera region, the formerly extensive Buloke Woodlands are now represented largely by scattered small remnants. It will need vast volumes of water, spread potentially hazardous dust onto surrounding properties, and reduce the amount of food exported from the region. There are serious concerns about the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts from earlier mines in the region.
Across north western Victoria, massive critical minerals developments threaten farming, landscapes, local economies and ground and water supplies. There are five main projects currently planned. More than 42,000 hectares of farm land are currently under retention licences.
Convincing the federal government to not fund this project is the best chance we have to stop this deeply unpopular open cut mine.
Please sign this open letter to Madeleine King, who is the Minister responsible for the ECA and NRFC.
The Hon Madeleine King
Federal Minister for Resources
No support for the Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project
Across north western Victoria, massive critical minerals developments threaten farming, landscapes, local economies and ground and water supplies. There are five main projects currently planned. More than 42,000 hectares of farm land are currently under retention licences. While this is being boosted by the mining industry as being great for the region it comes at a direct cost to local farming communities, food production and the environment.
There are also legacy issues from older projects, which have not been properly rehabilitated. Dr John Russell, an independent researcher/ soils expert says that to date, every mine he has investigated, where the mining operator claimed to have restored the land post-mining, showed land severely compromised in its productive capacity.
I am aware that the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) and Export Finance Australia (EFA) have announced financial support for the Donald Rare Earth and Mineral Sands Project. NRFC’s backing includes up to $110M in senior debt to support, while EFA approved up to $70M in financing.
You will be aware of the controversy surrounding this project. While each of the mine projects proposed for north west Victoria are subject to an assessment and approvals process, there has been no attempt by the regulator or the state government to understand the cumulative impacts of these projects combined across an important food production area. The current system, which is skewed towards mining companies, is not adequately protecting food production in a vital cropping area that produces for local production and export. These include cereals (such as wheat, barley and oats), oilseeds (such as canola) and pulses (such as lentils and chickpeas).
As an Australian tax payer who values food production and environmental sustainability, I strongly oppose the federal government financially backing this open cut mine.
As the Minister responsible for the ECA and NRFC, I urge you to revoke the commitment to provide financial support for the Donald project,
Your sincerely,