Antimony clean-up underway

The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) is project managing the site clean up on behalf of the NSW Crown Lands who own the contaminated land.

The Antimony processing activities occurred on the site in the early 1970s which sourced Stibnite ore from the Wild Cattle Creek mine in Dorrigo.

When the short term spike in Antimony metal prices fell, both the mine and the Urunga processing plant were abandoned. Since this time, the waste tailings containing antimony, arsenic, mercury, chromium, nickel, zinc, copper, lead and cyanide have spread into the adjoining SEPP14 wetland.

Project manager, Clayton Colmer is pleased that the results of recent sampling by local consultants GHD Pty Ltd have provided a clearer picture of the extent and nature of contaminated material on the site.

“Many investigations have been conducted in the past but did not give a complete picture of the contamination,” he said.

“The latest investigation used historical results but also involved an extra 300 samples. These samples included surface water, groundwater, soil, tailings and wetland sediments,” Mr Colmer said.

The recent sampling also used the latest technology X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) hand held sensor which allows a cost effective method of undertaking higher density sampling. Samples were also sent off for NATA accredited laboratory testing to confirm the concentrations of the heavy metals.

As part of the community consultation process, a public meeting will be held from 6:30pm Tuesday, November 27 at Urunga Golf Club to present the investigation findings and to discuss possible clean-up and disposal options.

“We will be considering a wide range of practical remediation measures to clean up the site and how to best use the $1 million government funding. It is hoped that on-site remediation works can begin in mid 2013,” Mr Colmer said.