Residents demand Kangaroo Flat mine answers

Woodvale residents want to know what information government regulators have gathered from groundwater monitoring near Unity Mining’s Woodvale evaporation ponds.The Woodvale Environment Group has organised a public meeting tonight which the Environmental Protection Authority confirmed yesterday it would attend.Organiser Vanessa Richardson said the authority had been tight-lipped about the early results from monitoring.She said it was planned that the EPA would be asked whether groundwater and tank water was safe now Unity Mining’s Kangaroo Flat mine had ceased operation.The water in the ponds is pumped from Unity’s underground operation near Kangaroo Flat.Unity Mining’s health, safety and environment manager Andrew Mattiske said the EPA received its environmental data from the mining company which monitored next to the evaporation ponds for seepage into groundwater and hired an independent hydrogeologist to analyse the results.He said the monitoring program would continue despite the cessation of mining operations, because the mining company would continue to pump water from the underground mine.The remaining five of seven ponds that had not been revegetated would not remain as they were because the company wanted to continue to explore for gold reserves.Ms Richardson said the community would decide tonight what action it would take to ensure the area was managed according to its concerns.