Susannah and Jack White have spent years fighting a proposed lead, zinc and silver mine near their farm outside Mudgee, but the couple cannot bring themselves to discuss what they will do if the mine gets approved this week.
The Whites’ beef farm is about eight kilometres downstream of the proposed Bowdens Silver mine near the village of Lue, 30 kilometres outside Mudgee, on the tourist route to Rylstone. The couple worry about lead contamination from the mine and changes to the valley’s water supply, on which their farm relies.
But Victoria’s chief environmental scientist Mark Taylor, appearing at a public hearing last month in his role as honorary professor at Macquarie University, said the mine “clearly presents a risk to communities” due to increased dust and lead concentrations.