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Posted: 2023-06-25 01:04:47

A mining company, whose $15 million NSW gold mine project is on hold while elders await the outcome of a protection application, has told the local community there is no significant Aboriginal cultural value associated with the site.

Regis Resources has state government approval to extract gold and ore from the open cut McPhillamys mine at Blayney, near Bathurst, but cannot proceed until a federal heritage protection application submitted in 2020 is resolved.

A group of Wiradyuri elders and traditional owners have contributed knowledge to the Section 10 application under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (ATSIHP) Act.

They are seeking to halt the project for fear it will destroy what they call "one of the most significant Aboriginal cultural landscapes in Australia", which includes the Belubula River.

"We have to protect our sacred river," Aunty Nyree Reynolds, who lodged the application on behalf of the group, said.

"It is part of a very significant river system and many Dreaming stories follow its path."

The Belubula River originates at the mine site and its springs and tributaries bear significance and meaning for Wiradjuri people.()

However, in a community newsletter distributed in May, Regis said it had consulted with 13 registered Aboriginal parties (RAP) since 2019 and it would "salvage and safely store" several artefacts found on the site, but that cultural significance to the "broader" area was "general".

"[The RAP and independent experts] did not identify any significant cultural values or traditional practices as being associated with the project area [the area which would be disturbed by mining operations] itself," the newsletter read.

A company spokesperson confirmed the stance in a statement.

"None of the feedback in the EIS or amendment reports – from Aboriginal people or specialist archaeologists – defined specific areas or items of high significance associated with the project area," they said.

"No culturally sensitive landforms — where subsurface Aboriginal cultural deposits are likely to appear – were found on site."

Aunty Nyree Reynolds and a group of elders she represented in her Section 10 application are RAP.

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