Another bumper issue, the Copley Newsletter Edition 24, April 2008 is ready to download as a 1.9mb pdf. (20 pages, use your page down to move through the pages) This month’s edition contains some great photos of the Gymkhana.

Edited by Di Starick, printed with the support of the Leigh Creek Area School.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say congratulations, Di, for producing for the 24th time a newsletter for our community. Thankyou for your initiative in getting this great project going and keeping it going. Thankyou for volunteering your time, energy, motivation and spirit. Your enthusiastic readership extends not only to Leigh Creek and other neighbouring communities but also to our friends and family interstate who enjoy keeping in touch with the goings on of our town. Your efforts are inspiring, well done!  - amt

I think it needs to be accepted that many mining companies have poor track records both here and overseas… as the Department of Environment
and National Heritage advises it’s wise to look at ‘the history of the person’ and it’s also prudent to have information and knowledge at the outset of any negotiation. There are currently inadequate environmental safeguards as I expanded in ‘Marathon not Running by the Rules’. If anyone doubts this situation also peruse the latest Arkaroola newsletter, the Unknown SA site and the servethepeople site by Mike.

Information not only puts people in a strong bargaining position but it gives them insights into what they are bargaining for. When information is not freely available, monopolised by one group or group(s) or is witheld the bargaining ‘playing field’ is not level which can lead to unexpected and possibly unfair results. Currently in Australia and overseas many communities have been ruined or are seeking compensation because mining operations had an impact on their environs which was either not shared in advance or happened as a planned accident because there was no independent review of the project and potential impacts. If specific details of case studies are required from current mining and processing operations in Australia I would be pleased to provide the links.

First steps first. Until a level of risk is established whether that be low or extreme, there is not much point in engaging in process, whether that be legislated or through any informal contracts from either side. The application or relevance of these may pale into insignificance at a later time… and yet the informal arrangements do act as a form of engagement and acceptance of an external body which is making major changes to the environment. Once again, the cost of contamination can be the termination of a community because of excessive health risk and because the cost of clean up either exceeds the bond requirements lodged or the investigatory body is not separate enough from the operations to truthfully highlight the risk, damage, or origins of the complaint. To assume protection and long term sustainability based upon legislative frameworks, or community offering as part of, can therefore potentially be a fatal error which will distract away from key issues facing the community now.
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Who are these people and why the happy delirium, I hear you ask. Simon and Stephanie delight in a rare treat: organic Copley bananas grown at the Space Station.

Bananas are pretty easy to grow here, they just need a trench filled with pooh and compost, a spot out of the harsh wind  and plenty of water. These ones grew on grey water from the shower and kitchen without strong detergents. When the bunch is green and full it is picked an hung in a plastic bag for a week or two to ripen. Once they have fruited, the plants die off (making  great fodder) and new plants grow from suckers.

As you can see from out visitor log at the bottom of the page, we’re getting a lot of visitors, not only from our local towns but Australia wide, NZ and Europe. Wherever you are, we’d like to welcome you to jump in and join the discussions!

William Snell will be performing at the Bush Opera at Old Wilpena Homestead this Sunday, 27th April. Meals are served at noon followed by opera 2 - 4.30pm.

Tickets are $90 through Bass 131 246

Enquiries 0418 840 230 or pop into the Copley bakery to see Ron who has organised the event.

This article and image was published in the ARK newsletter, summer 2008, by Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. Download the newsletter (1.5 mb pdf) for more information on mining at Mt Gee.

More than three months after an official inspection revealed that Marathon Resources had buried mining and other waste in an unauthorised manner at Mt Gee, a clean-up of the site has not commenced. The State government is yet to determine how Marathon Resources will retrieve and dispose of the buried waste. Adelaide-based mineral exploration company Marathon Resources commenced exploration mining in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in late 2005. Exploration activity has been undertaken at Mt Gee, near the Armchair and at a site in Yudnamutana Gorge. Exploration Licence (EL) 3258 explicitly states that the company must ensure that

“ all relevant employees and contractors are advised of the
environmental objectives of the program and their
environmental management responsibilities”

“all pollutants and waste materials should be removed from the site”

With their obligations clearly defined in a binding document, Marathon Resources chose to bury 35 tonnes of drill samples stored in 22 800 plastic and calico bags, at the base of Mt Gee. Overalls, pvc pipe, packing material and plastic jars were also found buried in the two trenches.

A third trench containing 3.5 tonnes of mineral waste was identified at Hodgkinson’s in Yudnamutana Gorge, a site of higher-grade uranium mineralisation. Here, 1700 bags of mineral residue were placed in sixteen 200 litre metal and plastic drums, which were buried “in a way that operatives believed at the time to be in compliance with EPA guidelines.” (-Chairman Peter Williams) The trench is located by a gully that produces high-energy run-off during major rain events. Inevitably the trench will be destroyed in a major flood event, like those of 1984 and 1989. The drums are unlikely to remain intact in the boulder strewn floodwaters that flow east to the Lake Frome Regional Reserve.

On February 12 the Premier announced that Marathon’s lease at Mt Gee would be suspended indefinitely until the company had undertaken a clean-up of the site and satisfied other conditions. However Marathon were able to continue operations at drill-holes that had been commenced before the inspection and did not fully demobilise for a further four weeks. On the day of the premier’s announcement, Chairman Peter Williams stated that Marathon had enough information to enable the company to move onto the next phase of planning for a uranium mine at Mt Gee.

Links to further discussion on Marathon at Mt Gee in Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary:

• Rosetta Moon

• Unknown SA

• Serve the People

Have your say - email complaints to:

ASIC : marc.falkiner@asic.gov.au

DEH : Lachlan.Wilkinson@environment.gov.au

Posted by Carrie Ann

You are invited to a working bee and delicious feast and fire at the chapel this Sunday 20th April. Activities include getting trailer loads of gravel, sand, shale and poo; tree planting; pathmaking; trellising and weeding. Bring spades, pliers etc and a trailer if you’ve got one.

Carrie Ann the pregnant woman is nesting, gardener style!

Come and enjoy the feast.

If you’re keen to get some veges growing you’ll need some rich soil. A quick way to make some is by creating a hot compost. Within a month you’ll have living, organic compost to turn into your soil mix. It’s easy:

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See images of Copley at the community Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/copleyimagegallery/

If you have photos of events, places, pets, artwork or other Copley images you’d like to add, email the editor.

- Submitted by Di.

Why a Charter of Rights is important to Indigenous Australians
by Tom Calma

Source from Australians All

The most revealing indicator that the NT intervention was not consistent with human rights principles was the provision at the centre of the legislative machinery used to support the intervention, namely suspending the operation of Racial Discrimination Act.

A few weeks ago I was honoured and humbled to be entrusted by the national stolen generations representative groups with the responsibility to participate in and later to speak in response to the Prime Minister’s Apology to the Stolen Generations.

I was touched by the Apology in all imaginable ways: as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner; the National Race Discrimination Commissioner and most importantly as the great grandchild of a Stolen Generations woman.

‘Her mother will not part with her’. This was the chilling account of the officer who reported on my great grandmother in 1899. When I recalled this at the Apology ceremony I had in mind not solely the pain of the past, but also the responsibilities of the present, and the demands upon the future to prevent the violation of basic human rights and dignity, such as the right of a mother to care for her child.
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