Mid West farming family feels ignored as plans for vanadium processing hub progress at Tenindewa
- By Lucinda Jose
- ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt
- Topic:Mining and Metals Industry
Wed 14 AugWednesday 14 August
Kyle and his father Brad Smith are concerned about potential contamination from a vanadium processing plant next door. (Supplied: Brad Smith)
In short:
A Mid West farmer says planning for a proposed vanadium processing plant has misrepresented the location and views of the neighbouring community.
The company says an error that caused some houses to be missed from a map was corrected before plans were submitted.
What's next?
The City of Greater Geraldton has supported rezoning the property and the decision will now progress to the state development panel and minister for lands.
A Mid West farmer says his family home was erased from the map in planning documents for a major mineral processing plant intended for the property next door.
Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL) has received local government support for plans to build a vanadium processing hub in Tenindewa, 100 kilometres east of Geraldton.
The company hopes to bring vanadium ore from a proposed mine near Meekatharra.
The vanadium ore would then be taken to the hub where it would be processed into vanadium pentoxide, a key component in vanadium flow batteries.
City of Greater Geraldton councillors recently supported rezoning the site from rural to general industry, five votes to three.
The state development assessment panel and the minister for planning will make the final decision about zoning.
Local residents opposed the development due to potential contamination and impacts to the productive agricultural land surrounding the site.
The proposed plant would be located less than 2km from grain farmer Brad Smith's home and sheds.
The third-generation farmer heard about the proposed project in 2019 when the company first met with local residents one family at a time.
He said since that time there had been no formal consultation.
"We didn't endorse the project," Mr Smith said.
"Unbeknown to all the neighbouring landowners, apparently a quick sit down and a cup of tea is saying we're supporting the project."
He said his family felt ignored and disrespected when planning documents showed their name marked with an S for support and their home did not appear on included Google Earth Maps.
"We are on some and aren't on others so there is a lot of misrepresentation," he said.
The Smith family home was omitted from initial planning documents for a proposed vanadium processing plant next door. (Supplied: Brad Smith)
AVL's executive general manager of project delivery Flormirza Cabalteja said there was an error with initial planning submission maps.
"Some of the houses were missed, but before the submission it was actually picked up," she said.
"Everything else in terms of air assessment, noise assessment actually looks at the cadastral boundaries of lot 40 and 41."
The company said preliminary air quality assessment modelling of pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, sulphuric acid, and vanadium were well below the acceptable criteria.
Ms Cabalteja said the company intended to do further assessment and community consultation.
"We really acknowledge that our previous efforts in stakeholder engagement did not meet our expectations or those of our stakeholders but we are committed to improving our approach," she said.
City to look for additional industrial land
Geraldton Mayor Jerry Clune said with other proponents seeking to establish in the region, the city would conduct a study to identify land suitable for industrial purposes.
"We have had people knocking on our door seeking suitable industrial land, which a lot of it is not," Mr Clune said.
He said consultants for the city would soon contact landowners to see if they were willing to have their properties rezoned.
Tenindewa is a grain framing region located 100km east of the City of Geraldton. (ABC Mid West & Wheatbelt: Jo Prendergast)
Mr Smith said he did not oppose vanadium processing but believed it should be conducted near the mine site away from people's homes and land that was used to grow food.
He was alarmed the zoning of agricultural land could change so easily.
"It sort of opens the floodgates for any mining industry to come in and put one on anyone else's back door," Mr Smith said.
In March, AVL successfully produced battery-ready vanadium electrolyte at a new manufacturing facility in Perth using vanadium pentoxide imported from the United States.
In the future, the company hoped the Tenindewa processing hub would enable it to use West Australian mined and processed vanadium to create a "pit to battery" value chain.
AVL says it will make a final investment decision on the project next year.
(20min delay)