Mirboo North and Surrounds: Under Threat from
Experimental Coal and CSG mining
Coal, Experimental Coal &
‘Unconventional’ Gas Mining
in Victoria
EL5337, 5338, 5336, 5428* are Exploration Licenses held by Mantle Mining,
which relate to both coal and CSG exploration (*EL5428 is exclusively coal).
EL5119- Mercus Resources Pty Ltd (Coal, CSG, Lead, Zinc and Copper)
EL4877- Sawells Pty Ltd [Greenpower subsidiary] (Coal and CSG)
ELs 5321, 5276 & 5274- Exhaust Control Industries (ECI) Pty. Ltd (CSG only)
Mantle Mining is a WA based company who are working with Exergen to exploit
Victoria’s brown coal resources for export to India and China. Exergen is attempting
to commercialise its brown coal drying technology (see page 4). Both companies have
another similar project in Bacchus Marsh in western Victoria.
Mecrus Resources has entered into an agreement with the ironically named
Environmental Clean Technologies Ltd (ECT). ECT is developing brown coal drying
technology for export (see page 4). Greenpower is pursuing Coal Gasification, Coal to
Liquids and Biogenic Methane Enhancement technologies (see pages 4-5). They are
working in partnership with global giant, General Electric.
ECI are partnering with a global company, CFT Energy Ltd. CFT have existing projects
in China and specialise in CSG extraction. In 2006 ECI was charged with ‘permitting
an environmental hazard’ at Campbellfield in 2004 and ordered to pay $15000.
Get involved in the fight to save Mirboo North and surrounds: Sam
Massey 0439 752 992 or Phil Piper 5668 8276
For more information visit: www.fogmirboonorth.org.au,
lockthegategippsland.com, www.melbourne.foe.org.au & quitcoal.org.au,
Victoria is experiencing a rush of exploration for
‘unconventional’ gas and experimental new coal projects, with
large swaths of the state now under coal, coal seam gas, shale
gas, or tight gas exploration licenses.
If you see drilling for coal and
unconventional gas in your area please call
Drill Watch on 1300 852 081
Unconventional Gas Mining
What is fracking? Fracking, otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing, is
a process used to extract gas and oil from deposits that were previously
considered too difficult. Unconventional gas reserves, which often require
fracking include, Coal Seam Gas (CSG), shale gas and ‘tight gas’ (found in
sandstone formations). Fracking is the process of pumping water, sand and a
cocktail of different chemicals underground at huge pressure in order to
break open the ground and allow the gas to flow out.
Below is an illustration of a typical drilling rig
It is important to note that the ‘Gas Field Free’ declaration is not a petition,
asking the government to do something; it is a declaration that the
community will defend themselves from this invasive and reckless industry.
The resistance is spreading into neighbouring regions in NSW and we can do
the same here in Gippsland.
It is up to us; we can make this declaration here and protect our land and
our future:
“WE PEOPLE OF……… ROAD DECLARE THAT THIS
ROAD IS COAL MINE & GASFIELD FREE- PROTECTED
BY THE WILL OF THE COMMUNITY”
This Decision is made through community consultation and
engagement.
“We recognise that our best defence is by standing together.
If we detect any activity by coal and gas companies here, we
will raise an alert and ask their representatives to leave.
We are committed to stopping coal mine and gas field
industrialisation. In doing this, we protect the water, soil
and air. We will protect our community from the destructive
impacts of the coal and gas industries.”
Is fracking always necessary? In shallow CSG deposits the gas
can sometimes be extracted by dewatering the coal seam (underground
deposit of coal) without fracking. This process involves removing massive
quantities of contaminated water from the coal seam. The waste-water often
contains high levels of salt and other contaminants from the coal seam,
including mercury, cadmium, arsenic and other elements in harmful
quantities. There is no safe way of disposing of this water.
Water In a frack 20-80% of the water pumped into the ground remains
underground. This water often finds its way into ground and surface water,
endangering the health of local communities and ecosystems that rely on this
water. The technique can also create micro-seismic events (mini
earthquakes), which cause the connection of naturally separated geological
layers. This process can contaminate ground water with volatile organic
Locking up roads in this way is much more than a symbolic action. When
hundreds of landowners in a community refuse access then the mining
company is faced with a rapidly diminishing
return if they try to force access into that
community. The political and economic cost
of launching numerous individual actions
against landowners would inevitably cause a
tidal wave of political backlash.
Since declaring their roads gas field free, no
community has been invaded by mining
companies.
Gippsland: Farmland not Wasteland
Coal Mine and Gas Field Free Communities
Governments all over Australia have shown that they are unwilling to stand
up to fossil fuel companies, giving them free reign to put gas fields and new
coal mines anywhere they like. Our government has shown that they are
unwilling to guarantee real protection for local communities from the harmful
health effects, to safeguard our water and to conserve our ability to produce
food.
It is now up to ordinary people to challenge the unjust influence of the fossil
fuel industry and defend the things that are most important to us.
In northern NSW, an exciting movement is growing. Faced with the imminent
threat of large-scale CSG mining, all different kinds of communities are
declaring their roads and towns ‘gas field free’.
compounds, methane, other gases, heavy metals, enormous quantities of salt as well
as naturally occurring radioactive material.
Health The regulation in Australia does not require companies to list the
chemicals they use in fracking fluids. However, experience in the USA, Queensland
and NSW shows the use of known carcinogens as well as other chemicals including:
ethylene glycol, which affects kidney function, the lungs and heart; the BTEX group
(Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene and Xylene), which affect bone marrow, the blood
system and cause leukaemia; and other toxins that affect hormone regulation and
the reproductive system.
Food In Victoria, the exploration licenses granted cover some of our most
productive agricultural land. Gas fields can occupy huge areas of land with a cobweb
of connecting roads and drill sites. There is also a dangerously high risk that
contaminated air and water will directly impinge on our ability to produce healthy,
clean food.
Subsidence When large quantities of water and gas are removed from
underground, massive voids are created. This can lead to subsidence, where the
ground sinks lower, moving into the vacuum created by underground extraction –
sometimes damaging infrastructure or pushing land below sea level.
Climate Change Studies by independent groups have demonstrated that due
to leakage from gas fields (fugitive methane emissions) the greenhouse footprint of
‘unconventional’ gas is as bad as or worse than coal.
Who regulates the industry? In Australia, the company undertaking
the drilling is often responsible for appointing people to monitor their activities.
Sadly, with this system of regulation we have seen a huge number of breaches,
endangering the health and livelihoods of people living near gas fields – and
sometimes even hundreds of kilometres downstream.
This process involves:
 A town meeting where the people present decide whether they
would like to declare their home gas field free,
 The next step is to go door-to-door and survey the entire community
asking the question: ‘do you want to declare your community gas
field free?’
 The results are collected, and in every case so far between 90 and
100% of the community have said yes.
A large part of the region has now been declared ‘Gas Field Free’, defended
by the community.
In June 2011, water tested from the Condamine River (which connects to the
Murray/Darling system) was found to contain ten times the safe level of
boron and cadmium and more than 1000 times the safe level of silver,
chlorine and copper. Again in the Pilliga forest, near Narrabri in NSW, testing
confirmed the presence numerous substances at harmful levels including
ammonia, lithium, cyanide bromide and boron. These chemicals are
dangerous by-products of CSG mining and were not present in sites tested
upstream. In May 2012, yet another major incident occurred with methane
was found bubbling up along a 15km stretch of the Condamine River.
These incidents have generally only been uncovered after local people or
volunteers from community and environmental organisations alerted
authorities and the media.
Coal and Experimental Coal Technologies
Victoria, The fight so far:
In April 2012, the Victorian and Federal governments jointly declared that
experimental coal technology could turn Gippsland into a coal export region
the size of the Pilbara.
In April, a coalition of over 50 different community, environmental and
farming groups launched a call for a Moratorium on all new coal and Coal
Seam Gas projects in Victoria.
If the government and the coal companies get their way we could see a host
of new open cut coal mines with experimental drying technology used to
process brown coal for export. There is also the potential for other
experimental coal technologies to become commercially viable, with a
massive impact on health, land and water.
Since April there has been mounting opposition to the expansion of Victoria’s
coal and gas industries. This forced the Victorian government to address
community concerns and institute a moratorium on all gas operations that
involve hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in August 2012.
Coal drying
But Baillieu’s Moratorium isn’t enough
The coal technology companies Exergen and the curiously named Environmental
Clean Technology (ECT) are the main proponent of experimental brown coal drying in
Victoria. The process that Exergen has developed involves drilling an 8m wide hole
1km deep and using a high pressure underground heat and chemical reactor to
‘dewater’ the coal. ECT’s process involves mechanical kneading to extract moisture.
For each tonne of dried coal produced, approximately 1100-1800 litres of polluted
water have to be disposed of. If Exergen’s plan to export 12 million tonnes of dried
coal from the Port of Hastings were to proceed, this would result in the production of
approximately 13-22 gigalitres of polluted water from the drying process alone;
(Ballarat uses approximately 10GL per year). This water contains high levels of salt,
carbolic acid and ammonia. The processes also use a significant amount of energy
(with its own greenhouse gas pollution) and produce other contaminants that need to
be treated with hazardous chemicals to be safely stored or reused for heating.
Exergen claims they will dispose of the carbon emissions in underground reservoirs; a
potentially dangerous and unproven practice on a large scale.
On October 9th last year a 380 tonne batch of coal spontaneously ignited in a
smouldering fire that required 15 fire units and over 60 CFA members to
bring under control. ECT described this as “a small, contained incident”.
Underground Coal Gasification (UCG)
This process essentially involves igniting a coal seam at a depth of least 100m
underground and pumping out the gas that is released as a result. UCG avoids the
need for surface mining and leaves combustion waste underground.
UCG is another experimental technology where oxidants are
injected into a coal seam in order to convert the coal to gas while
still inside the coal seam, rather than extracting it first. The
Department of Environment Resource Management recently had to
shut down a UCG project by Cougar Energy in Queensland after the
discovery that local bores had become polluted with carcinogenic
The current moratorium on fracking only addresses risks associated with one
element of the coal and gas industries. It does not address:
 Risks associated with the extraction of shallow gas deposits that do
not require fracking.
 The risks associated with the planned expansion of Victoria’s coal
industry, including experimental coal technologies and open cut coal
mines.
The government has also only committed to halt fracking until the release of
the federal government’s National Harmonised Framework for the CSG
industry. This could be released as early as December.
Unfortunately, the NSW State Government Moratorium shows us that whilst
a Moratorium is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t offer full or adequate
protection for local communities.
The Victorian government has admitted there is a problem. Now is the time
to keep the pressure up and demand and stop irreversible damage to
Victoria’s most valuable agricultural land. It’s a myth that coal and gas mining
can safely co-exist with communities and farmland. We need a full
moratorium on all new coal and unconventional gas operations in Victoria and
we need to declare our communities Coal Mine and Gas Field Free.
If you wish to join our call for a full moratorium, or if you know of any
groups that would like to join, please visit: www.tiny.cc/moratorium
What’s happening in NSW and Queensland?
NSW and QLD have recently both seen a massive expansion in fracking and
mining by the coal and coal seam gas industry. Exploration and production
licences cover most of both states as we speak and ferocious debate has
emerged, particularly concerning land rights and water.
In Queensland and NSW there have been hundreds of reported incidents
related to CSG fracking, including spillage of contaminated water and toxic
chemical contamination. Debbie Orr, a landowner in Tara in Queensland
reported that her both her children and her neighbour’s children have been
experiencing headaches and in some cases bleeding from the ears and nose
since unconventional gas mining began in their area. These symptoms have
also been associated with the practise across the USA.
“Our members have heard anecdotes
and experienced personal examples of
what has happened from unregulated
exploitation of prime land by the
granting of mining and coal seam gas
exploration permits. Many have personal
experience of irreparable damage done
to their properties because of nonregulated activities.”
Elaine Armstrong, NSW CWA President
The ‘Lock the Gate’ movement started in both QLD and NSW to provide
protection to rural communities from this industry and its dangerous
repercussions given governments’ lack of action against it. Despite the legal
implications, farmers across affected regions have started locking their gates
to the mining companies, refusing the trucks and equipment access to their
land.
The movement is growing: in NSW communities have started not only
locking the gate but “locking roads” from mining companies and protecting
entire regions from devastation.
chemicals such as benzene and toluene. Farmers in the area are unable to use the
bores anymore. The company became aware of the contamination in April, but didn’t
notify the department until June.
UCG threatens the contamination of
vast quantities of groundwater with
organic and often toxic materials
including BTEX compounds (benzene,
toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes),
phenols (phenol leechate is
particularly concerning), and
aromatics (e.g. naphthalene), as well
as gases (e.g. Carbon Monoxide and
Hydrogen Sulfide) that remain in the
underground chamber after
gasification and therefore are likely
to leech into the groundwater if not
contained by rock.
Underground Coal to Liquid
The Underground Coal to Liquid
(UCTL) process involves drilling to depths of 50m and using high-pressure hot water
and alkaline metal catalysts to liquefy the brown coal seam and extract a ‘syncrude‘
liquid for further refinement into oil and petroleum products.
The major concerning effects of UCTL are:
 It leaves coal ash and heavy metals in the ground. There is a significant risk of
these leaching into the surrounding water table, particularly if any subsidence of
the resultant reaction zone cavity occurs (as is the case with UCG).
 The process itself emits significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
 It is a new process, untested anywhere else in the world.
Biogenic Methane Enhancement
Melbourne-based company, Regal Resources has begun experimentation with
another technology called Biogenic Methane Enhancement (BME) in Oak Park, west
of Melbourne. This is a form of methane extraction that artificially stimulates
microbes and bacteria to rapidly digest and convert underground coal to gas, a
process that normally takes hundreds of years. This is highly experimental and has
never been used commercially before.
‘Nutrients’ and other chemicals are also used to artificially accelerate the process. The
chemicals used in a similar process in the US include ammonium chloride, acetate,
sodium phosphate, sodium bromide, potassium chloride, cobalt chloride and nickel
chloride, some of which are known carcinogens.
If the state government grants a licence to a
company, existing legislation throughout Australia
allows that company to mine anywhere within that
licence, even if it is on private land. In order to
maintain good public relations, most mining
companies try to gain permission from landholders, but in reality a land-holder has no legal
right to stop mining from occurring on their land.
Coal Seam Gas and Experimental Coal Exploration Licenses in South Gippsland
South Gippsland Shire: EL 5416- Leichhardt Resources Pty Ltd, EL5322 ECI International Pty Ltd, EL5081-Leichardt Resources Pty Ltd, EL5212 Resolve Geo Pty Ltd, EL5274 ECI International Pty
Ltd (exclusively CSG), EL5276 ECI International Pty Ltd (exclusively CSG), EL5281 -Seamiar Pty Ltd, EL5321 - ECI International Pty Ltd (exclusively CSG), EL5322 - ECI International Pty Ltd
(exclusively CSG), EL5338 -Mantle Mining Corporation Ltd, Wellington Shire: EL4416 -Ignite Energy Resources Pty Ltd, Greenpower Natural Gas Pty Ltd [underground coal gasification
potential], EL5333-Commonwealth Mining Pty Ltd (LakesOil), EL 5334 - Commonwealth Mining Pty Ltd (LakesOil), EL5170-Latrobe Fuels Ltd, PRL 2- PetroTech Pty Ltd (Lakes Oil), EL4681 Monash
Energy Coal Ltd, EL5229 -Wassylko, Stanislaw, EL5275-ECI Pty Ltd (exclusively CSG), EL 5394 - Commonwealth Mining Pty Ltd (Lakes Oil), EL4860 -Sawells Pty Ltd, EL5119 –Mercus Resources Pty
Ltd (exclusively coal- Experimental drying potential), EL5428-Mantle Mining Corporation Ltd (exclusively coal- Experimental drying potential), Latrobe Shire: EL5336 Mantle Mining Corporation
Ltd, Baw Baw Shire: EL4877 - Sawells Pty Ltd, EL5210 -Resolve Geo Pty Ltd, EL5320-ECI Pty Ltd (exclusively CSG)- EL5337- Mantle Mining Corporation Ltd, EL5227 -Greenpower Natural Gas Pty
Ltd, Cardinia Shire: EL4500-Greenpower Natural Gas Pty Ltd, Bass Coast Shire: EL5180 -Seamair Pty Ltd, EL5270 -Clean Global Energy Ltd,
All licenses relate to Coal Seam Gas and Brown or Black Coal unless otherwise specified. For more information see www.dpi.vic.gov.au and use the geovic tool