Tuesday, December 6

Hunter Valley: Xstrata Mining (alive and well)

Aerial view of Xstrata Mine coal seam gas extraction project:  Hunter Valley








They have over a hundred of these now. You can see them on either side of Charlton Road. There are a number on private property. At this site, they appear to be drilling vertically. At another site, about 100m from the Wollombi Brook, they were drilling at a 45 degree angle towards the Brook. 
 
Complaints about this received denials from Xstrata (even though photos were provided) and the government reps passing the buck back to Xstrata with no comment of their own. They have rigged up piping for the produced water that, at least in part, has it delivered to the trucks that are used to water down the roads - i.e., direct application of the produced water in the environment.
 
During the June flood, several wells were flooded out with the water draining onto nearby paddocks with cattle. By the way, this site is relatively small compared to the one near the Wollombi Brook. That site had easily 3 dozen trucks, large access roads and had to be over 100m x 100m in size.
 
Photos courtesy of the Hunter Valley Protection Alliance

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