The Environment Protection Authority and Horsham Rural City Council hosted a joint information session on Thursday and outlined Iluka Resources plans to dispose of an estimated 1.8 million cubic metres of tailings at the former Douglas mine site in the next 15 to 20 years.

Landcare group president Margaret Arthur said while the session was informative, questions remained.

She said there were particular concerns about the levels of monazite that would be dumped at Douglas.

Monazite is radioactive due to the presence of thorium and, less commonly, uranium. 

“Iluka intends to use pit 23 as a dump for 50,000 tonnes of concrete and steel, not only from the Douglas plant, but also from Ouyen mines and the Portland receiving centre, where ore from near Ceduna in South Australia is shipped in, before being trucked to the Hamilton mineral separation plant,” Ms Arthur said.

“Iluka maintains the monazite is inert, so why can’t this waste be recycled instead of dumped in pit 23?

“World’s best practice is that this type of waste should be returned to its source.”

Iluka Resources manager of external relations Rod Jones said the company had addressed questions on the disposal of monazite and other mine tailings at the information session.

“Thursday was a good opportunity for the community’s questions to be addressed,” he said.

“We felt a lot of questions were answered and that members of the public went away from the session reasonably well informed about the proposal.”

Mr Jones said Iluka had taken a great deal from the session.

“We thought it was a really positive experience,” he said.

“The session was extremely well run and we’d like to congratulate Horsham Rural City Council and the EPA on their efforts.”

Ms Arthur said the Landcare group would make a submission objecting to the Iluka proposal.

“Kanagulk Landcare Group members as a group and as individuals will be putting in submissions to Horsham Rural City Council regarding Iluka’s proposal for pit 23,” she said.

“Already gaping holes and inaccuracies have been found in the Iluka documents.

”Do Horsham Rural City Council ratepayers want to be responsible for pit 23 until dumping stops in 2030 and then for however many decades the site needs to be monitored thereafter?

“Does council want to have responsibility for the site for the next 100 years or more?

“Kanagulk Landcare Group is still concerned about radiation from the pit, now and in the future.”