Remember the Urunga wetlands waste tailings rich in antimony, arsenic, lead and cyanide?

"For five years in the 1960s and 1970s, antimony and other heavy metals leached from an ore processing plant into the melaleuca wetlands. The wetlands used to open up into a moonscape of light grey sand with not a single bit of vegetation."
>>
https://www.crownland.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-07/Urunga-Wetlands-fact-sheet.pdf
https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-5357%2120190227T035916.488%20GMT

Now they want to go for Wild Cattle Creek 'high-grade and high-tonnage' antimony-gold mining >>
https://www.listcorp.com/asx/tmg/trigg-minerals-limited/news/acquisition-of-globally-significant-antimony-project-3091939.html

A Clarence Catchment Alliance community meeting

is being hosted by the Bellingen Environment Centre,
with Blicks River Guardians and Lock the Gate Nambucca,
from 2pm on Friday May 31 at 16 Cudgery St, Dorrigo.
>>
https://clarencevalleynews.com.au/clarence-catchment-alliance-community-meeting/
#NSW #Dorrigo #Urunga #remediation #CoffsHarbour #mining #antimony #gold #extractivism #harm #WildCattleCreek #WCC #water #contamination #wetlands #rivers #waterways #freshwater #MarineWater #platypus #biodiversity #BellingenShire

Extraction and violence go hand in hand

How a fight to save the bush became a battlefield

"In Coffs Harbour Local Court the forestry contractors Michael Luigi Vitali and Rodney James Hearfield were found guilty of assaulting Graham and his companion Andre Johnston that afternoon on the road on the Dorrigo Plateaux three and a half years ago. No conviction was recorded."

"What she (Higginson) still believes to have been collusion between police, loggers and the FCNSW reflected a dangerous culture in which protesters are perceived by the government to be suspect automatically, while those who profit from resource extraction were above suspicion."
>>
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/how-a-fight-to-save-the-bush-became-a-battlefield-20240117-p5exxc.html
#FCNSW #violence #loggers #ForestryCorporation #ethics #NativeForests #NSWLogging #CoffsHarbour #GreatKoalaNationalPark #WildCattleCreek #RiotSquad #environmentalists #protests #climate #BiodiversityCrisis

How a fight to save the bush became a battlefield

A bid to preserve rainforest trees and protect endangered animals led to a long-running campaign of intimidation.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Loggers assaulted environmentalists in NSW forest

"It's been three-and-a-half years since Mark Graham and Andre Johnston were assaulted on a public road during a day trip to the Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, where logging was under way."

"On Monday, the pair got their day in court with a Coffs Harbour magistrate finding two employees of Greensill Bros had committed common assault."

"Mr Graham has told AAP he was dismissed by police when he went to report the assault in June 2020 and was instead to go and "get a job"."
>>
https://au.news.yahoo.com/loggers-assaulted-environmentalists-nsw-forest-042102462.html
#NSWLogging #ForestryCorporation #corruption #violence #law #StateForests #NativeForests #WildCattleCreek

Loggers assaulted environmentalists in NSW forest

Environmentalists who were attacked by logging contractors in a NSW forest say police and the government-owned Forestry Corporation have questions to answer.

Yahoo News
"Two men employed by a third party contractor for the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales have pleaded not guilty to charges of assault against two environmentalists on the state's mid north coast. "
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-14/third-party-employees-nsw-forestry-assault-not-guilty-pleas/102479456
#CoffsHarbour #Environmentalists #WildCattleCreek #StateForest #Violence
Employees of contractor for NSW Forestry Corp plead not guilty to assault charges

Michael Luigi Vitali and Rodney James Hearfield have been charged with assault offences against two local conservationists over an alleged incident in June 2020.

ABC News
The Great Koala National Park
“[Forestry Corporation NSW] knows this national park is coming, and they are deliberately ramping up operations within its boundaries to extract as much timber from it as possible,” NSW Nature #Conservation Council chief executive Jacqui Mumford said."
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/before-creation-of-koala-national-park-loggers-target-key-habitat-20230520-p5d9w0.html
#Koala #Habitat #WildCattleCreek #CloudsCreek #PineCreek #BoambeeStateForests #Extractivism #Roads #GKNP
Before creation of koala national park, loggers target key habitat

The NSW government stands by its promise to create a Great Koala National Park despite its own logging company planning operations in 20 per cent of the land inside its proposed boundaries this year.

The Sydney Morning Herald