Letter to the Minister

The below letter was forwarded to the Minister this morning:

TO
Dr Anthony Lynham
Minister for Natural Resources and Mines
1 William Street
BRISBANE   .. 4001 [email protected] [email protected]

Dear Minister
My wife and myself are shareholders in a company called Metallica Minerals Limited who lodged mining lease application 100044. The application went to the advisement stage in July 2017 with lodgement of any objections by 31 July 2017. The company then had 5 working days to lodge their paperwork confirming there had been no objections and it was then for the Department of Natural Resources and Mines to provide its recommendation to the Minister for approval or otherwise.
A further month has now elapsed and there is no indication by the Minister that this application has been approved or otherwise. Whilst this matter is in abeyance, both Metallica and two other businesses - LCR Group (who have been contracted to undertake the mining operations) and Green Coast Resources (who operate the Hey Point loading facility at Weipa) wait in limbo. Whilst in limbo, workers are not being employed (including indigenous persons), royalties are being lost to the Queensland Government, further royalties are not being paid to the local indigenous community and the flow-on effect of the mining operation in not filtering into Queensland economy and in particular the community of Weipa.
I would add that both Metallica and LCR Group are Brisbane based companies and are not multinationals.
Now I Understand that when a letter is written a Minister or member of parliament, that the process is that a policy officer or staffer will then draft a reply that basically placates the letter writer and effectively doesn’t respond to the issue or complaint raised.
In this matter I would like this process bi-passed and a simple response provide as to either a date or time line when this specific mining application decision will be made by the Minister.

Yours respectively

signed
5 September 2017