Strategic Alignment reads well. Looks like Bellevue may be requiring an AMES implementation sooner rather than later...

ab c.net.au/news/2020-08-25/investigation-into-hypersaline-water-spill-at-wa-gold-mine/12590736

Environmental regulator investigates hypersaline water spill at Bellevue gold mine

ABC Goldfields

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By Jarrod Lucas

Posted 1hhour ago

Workers inspecting the recently exposed main decline at the Bellevue underground mine during dewatering activities.(Supplied: ASX/Bellevue Gold)

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Western Australia's Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) is investigating the alleged discharge of hypersaline water into native vegetation by a fledgling gold miner in the state's northern Goldfields.

Key points:

• The environmental regulator and the owner of the Bellevue gold mine have both been tight-lipped about an alleged spill of hypersaline water into native vegetation
• The Bellevue underground mine operated from 1986 until 1997 and produced about 800,000 ounces of gold
• Since 2015, nine mining companies and one individual have been convicted of hypersaline water spills in WA, with nearly $240,000 in fines issued

The Bellevue underground mine, 30 kilometres north of Leinster, flooded after it was closed 23 years ago and is being dewatered so its new owners can explore for new gold reserves.

ASX-listed Bellevue Gold issued a brief statement to the ABC that confirmed it is cooperating with the department's investigation, but the company would not comment further at this stage.

Similarly, a spokesman for the department said:

"This investigation is ongoing, so no further information can be provided at this stage."

The latest investigation comes after the ABC revealed that the department was probing another WA gold miner for allegedly spilling hypersaline water onto farmland in the Wheatbelt.

That investigation is still "ongoing", according to the DWER.

YOUTUBEYoutube video of Bellevue gold mine

Dewatering could take six months

In June, Bellevue Gold successfully applied to the Environmental Protection Authority to dewater up to one gigalitre per annum from the underground workings to allow safe access for exploration drilling.

According to the New South Wales Irrigators' Council, that amount is equivalent to 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The deepest part of the Bellevue mine reaches about 430 metres below the surface and it was expected to take up to six months to dewater the old workings, which stretch for 28 kilometres underground.

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Bellevue Gold had estimated the workings hold between 400,000 to 700,000 kilolitres of water.

In its quarterly report, released to the ASX on July 31, Bellevue Gold said dewatering continued to "track to budget" and had reached a level of about 250 metres below the surface.

The company anticipated drilling from underground would start in the December quarter.

Drill rigs exploring from the surface at the Bellevue gold mine.(Supplied: ASX/Bellevue Gold)

Pipe burst would 'kill' vegetation

In its proposal to the EPA, Bellevue Gold said it would use a dewatering pipeline which has been in place for more than 20 years and skirts around several Aboriginal heritage sites, including Lake Miranda.

It planned to transfer water to the Westralia, Henderson and Vanguard pits, which it said had sufficient storage to contain the anticipated dewatering volumes.

The company said dewatering would occur across two mining leases, covering 884 hectares and 997 hectares respectively, where intense levels of mining and exploration have left flora and vegetation "almost completely degraded".

It hoped to dewater about 4 litres per second, equating to about 128 kilolitres a day, but the company also flagged potential concerns with the old pipeline infrastructure.

"A burst of a dewatering pipe would lead to a loss of containment of hypersaline water which would kill local vegetation with which it comes into contact," the company wrote in its EPA application.

The same document stated the company would require the water for future processing, and therefore, "Bellevue wishes to retain the water and will not be discharging it to the environment".