Agreed, it is by far the biggest risk at present from my perspective as well. And what are the issues of concern to the Govt? De-watering of adjacent water tables, ground-water contamination from the mine? How can this be resolved if there is some de-watering? A permanent 16 m limit or recharge of the aquifer with treated water from the mine? Or a barrier as you suggest? What is the current monitoring program doing? Is it looking at current groundwater depth, rock porosity and potential flow rates? When will we know when the depth limit is likely to be relaxed? Is that after studies underway now and likely to be soon, or only when a 16 m pit is made and real measures are taken? We could certainly do with a really detailed update on operations from VXL to inform this space, in addition to exactly how the new and refurbished plant is performing and if they are likely to sell/ship their first 1,000 tonnes of graphite as a significant benchmark? I guess they have four weeks to do that before the acceptance forms are due.
I raised the groundwater issue awhile ago and someone with local knowledge said the water table in the region there was deeper than the planned pit level so it was likely to be k. But there are plenty of lakes near the mine site, so are they part of the water table or just bodies that are isolated from it. Hopefully the latter if mining to depth is to be allowed!
