The mining application known as the Avonbank Mineral Sands Project, which will occupy 3400 hectares on private land, attracted more than 800 submissions.
Residents who objected to the application complained of the loss of agricultural land, the potential damage to the environment, the risk to groundwater and the prospects of rehabilitation in the future.
“While the available evidence does not establish that pre-mining productivity will necessarily be restored, neither does it establish that restoration cannot be achieved,” a report by Resources Victoria stated.
The mining company, WIM Resources, is proposing the development of up to 3426 hectares over a 38-year period for a mineral sands mining and processing operation. Under the proposal, the site will operate 24 hours every day of the year.
The project will be a major supplier of zircon and titanium, as well as minor byproducts of rare earths.
Avonbank will produce a range of critical minerals required for the future electrification of the global economy, as well as for ceramics and paint pigment needed for everyday living.
Avonbank is about 15km north of Horsham and is expected to utilise the deepwater bulk shipping Port of Portland.
VFF president Ryan Milgate said the green-lighting of the Avonbank mineral sands mine on the eve of an election was fundamentally at odds with the VFF’s call for a pause on new critical minerals projects until proper protections were in place and the impacts on communities and agricultural land had been rigorously assessed.
“Given the location within a precinct for the export and value add of agricultural produce, this government is playing Russian roulette with not only local farmers, but the entire Victorian rural economy,” Mr Milgate said.
“An agricultural land restoration working group has only just been established to address concerns about the impacts of mining on farmland, and that work is barely under way. Yet the government is continuing to steamroll through projects that will have long-term consequences for productive agricultural land.
“Ramming these projects through before an election, while the protections are still being worked out, is completely wrong. You can’t approve the mines first and work out how to protect and restore farmland later.”
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