local mantle mining news

abit of a miss leading headline , but a good article

i spoke to ian last week about talking to this reporter at the newspaper, and she has quoted ian correctly after me talking to him last week

some farmers are always going to think and belive like there going to start digging a coal mine in the very near future!

and the location of the lease is close the boundarys of 2 shires so in hind site mantle should have put notices in the star and the sentinal but very few articles cover this area anyway and

more often than not large majority of readers dont read that section of the paper where this aritlce would be anyway

http://www.thestar.com.au/?p=1089

Mine bombshell

PHIL Piper is furious and horrified.
He found out � via the metropolitan media � that a mining company wants to slap an exploration licence on his peaceful lifestyle property in Mirboo North.
Phil has lived on 10 acres in St Ellens Road for 26 years and, as an ardent member of Landcare, has done a lot of revegetating.
He knew nothing of Mantle Mining�s plans.
�I was shocked,� he said.
�It�s outrageous. This is a food bowl. It�s really scary.
�It�s bad enough when you look at the prime agricultural land close to Melbourne that�s being built on.
�What are the priorities?
�I�m angry in more ways than one.
�Now that we have a (State) Liberal Government it will be open slather all the way round. It�s not good. You have no rights.�
Phil said he thought the fact that Mantle Mining was applying for an exploration licence �and not let anyone know is sneaky and a bit offensive�.
Applications for such licences have to be advertised and Phil is critical of the newspapers that were chosen.
�How many in Mirboo North read the Warragul Gazette or Latrobe Valley Express?
�They�ve deliberately kept it away.�
He said he wasn�t sure what to do about it.
�I will do some research and take things from there.�
Mantle has diversified mining interests with its main office in Queensland.
It has lodged an application for exploration licences over a large tract of land that includes Mirboo North and Thorpdale.
Phil said there probably is coal in Mirboo North.
�Coal runs through this whole area and Mirboo North is in the middle.�
But he doesn�t see why his privately owned land should be part of any mining licence.
Mantle Mining managing director Ian Kraemer told The Star the exploration licence applications were the first step in a very long process that is very carefully legislated.
He said many processes have to be gone through, including months of studies and analyses and it would be three years before anything might occur.
Compulsory acquisition is not involved.
�Regarding landholders, we have an obligation to follow all best practice legislative processes. There is a mandated code of practice.
�Before we do anything on the ground, we have to reach agreement with the landowner to have access to their land.
�The key is, the landowner has a whole slew of rights that must be met.�
He said the mining company has to work with all state and local departments and land occupiers, reaching agreement with each.
�It is a very legislated process. We follow codes and relevant Acts.
�We believe we have a responsibility with any projects to ensure all three are covered.�
On its website, mantle Mining states that it �works closely on corporate social responsibility with all stakeholders to ensure that effective triple bottom line outcomes are consistently delivered�.
Asked what �triple bottom line outcomes� meant, Mr Kraemer said, �Social, environmental and economic.�
Of those, environmental was the most important.
�All environment boxes must be ticked.�
Mr Kraemer said he knows the Mirboo North area very well.
�I am a farmer too. We have to have this right up front that there are competing land uses.�
He said the exploration licence applications were advertised in the Melbourne Age on February 9, Warragul/Drouin Gazette on February 22 and Latrobe Valley Express on February 24. No advertisements were placed in either the Mirboo North Times nor The Great Southern Star, the two biggest selling weekly publications in Mirboo North.


My land: Phil Piper has revegetated a large part of his 10 acre property. Now, a mining company wants to explore it for coal.