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In June 2008, Penrice Quarry and Mineral applied to the Department for Primary Industries and Resources of SA (PIRSA) for a Miscellaneous Purpose Licence (MPL), in order to dump overburden from the mine on land on the valley floor.
Following Penrice’s expansion application a four week community consultation period was held and as a part of this process Penrice held two community information meetings. It became evident at these meetings that a large amount of concern existed in the Barossa Valley community about the mine’s current operations and the impact further expansion and development may have particularly on the visual amenity of the Barossa.
As a result of the Barossa community’s response, Penrice Community Consultative Committee (PCCG) was formed, comprising of four local residents, Barossa Council representatives, PIRSA staff, Penrice Quarry executives and an independent chair. The role of the PCCG was to discuss issues and matters of concern that the community has with regard to the mine’s current and future operations, including visual amenity, dust, noise and hours of operation. This enabled PIRSA to hear the community’s perspectives about the impact of the mine’s operations, so that they could be considered when formulating the Mine Operation Plan (MOP).
Barossa residents always maintain that they do not want to see the mine closed, but they do want the mine to take more responsibility with regard to the visual amenity of the mine; environmental issues; dust and noise problems among other issues.
Ivan has met with community representatives, Penrice Quarry and Mineral Executives and the Minister for Mineral Resources Development, to discuss the issues surrounding the mine operations and future developments and has said that he understands the community do have valid concerns about the mine and they want make sure that the problems are fixed now for future generations.
“The Penrice Mine Executives are willing to work with the community to solve the issues” said Mr Venning.
Ivan said that everyone including himself is aware of the employment the mine provides for locals and that the soda ash extracted from the mine is used to make glass bottles – in particular wine bottles, which are widely used in the Barossa wine industry.
“I do understand the communities concern –but I am hopeful that both the mine management and the Barossa community can work together to come up with solutions to fix the problems and improve the visual amenity of the mine” he said.
The PCCG held their last monthly meeting in June 2010. All the issues raised by the community have been discussed and debated and now the decision about what regulations will be implemented in the MOP rests with the Minister and PIRSA. The PCCG will meet again in November, and then intend to meet quarterly to review the actions the mine has taken, discuss their effectiveness and raise any ongoing matters of concern.
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