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Fireclay Caverns...From Page 1 the Fireclay Caverns in Mount Morgan. Council resolved at its last meeting not to proceed with the compulsory acquisition of the Native Title, but Mayor Tony Williams reassured the local community that Council was still committed to the project and would look for other avenues to progress it. “The decision is a clear sign we remain committed to seeing this incredible tourism and historical experience brought back to life, but we want to do it the right way and the compulsory acquisition of native title isn’t that way,” Mayor Williams said. “For Council to gain access to the land, the state government required Council to purchase the land and convert it to freehold and this triggered the need to compulsory acquire native title and the compulsory acquisition was never our preferred option. “Council will now write to both the State and Federal Government seeking recognition of the natural and historical significance of the caverns along with a request for assistance to stabilise and to conserve the caves to ensure this important site remains intact for future generations. “I firmly believe that we have an obligation to history to see the Mount Morgan Fireclay Caverns reopened for the world to see and for people to walk in the literal footsteps of dinosaurs. “This project won’t happen overnight. But the community should be reassured we’re here to work with you – we’ve shown that with the water supply, we’ll do it again with this,” Mayor Williams said. MMPAD President, Mr John Steinberger said Mount Morgan’s Fireclay Caverns was a hidden diamond in the Capricorn Crown for regional tourism as well as having significant paleontological importance. “Even the cavern’s strata are an astounding feature, then you look up and see the early Jurassic prints on the ceiling,” he said. He agreed with what Mayor Williams was saying especially concerning the importance of the State Government recognising the significance of the FCC location but is concerned with Council’s unknown timeframes to act. Council did show genuine commitment a few years ago and prioritised the caverns in the region’s priorities during the state election and shortly after in the Advancing Mount Morgan Strategy. “I think this has been understood in the past, but the safety concerns and other priorities have outweighed the community requirement for these caverns to be reopened and the importance has been lost along the way. “This has been MMPAD’s and the community’s stance since the closure and over the years there have been mixed results,” Mr Steinberger said. Mr Steinberger said the State Government Department responsible for the caverns stated and identified at the first community meeting, the need to explore avenues to find remedial solutions to regain access. “MMPAD has also lobbied and secured funding from the State Government for geotechnical investigation into the area’s stability. All unfortunately have not eventuated to anything that provide solutions towards reopening this important location.” The council also investigated in 2018 which provided some positives, but not to the extent that would alter the Queensland Government’s stance of total exclusion to anyone to the area. “MMPAD understands that due to the Mines Department preventing entry to the FCC, investigating and examining the area to develop detailed findings is almost impossible,” Mr Steinberger said. “We find this outlook quite frustrating and cannot accept this situation especially as today’s technology and expertise lends itself to a thorough and practical investigation of the cavern’s stability,” Mr Steinberger said. “MMPAD certainly supports Council’s action to write to the Queensland Government on this issue, however we feel it is necessary to personally approach the Queensland Premier on the subject.” “There are documented records showing the inaction and lack of results from the Premier’s Government both currently and in the past in respect to this issue. “The solution we see is to establish the stability of both internal and external areas of the caverns clarified with detail. This has failed in the past due to restrictions, access and examinations. “Without this there can be no way forward towards planning or any need for acquisition of title of land, development of master plans and groups and government levels working together. Even if the Council or any other party took over ownership of the location health and safety concerns would need to be addressed in line with government requirements and approvals. “It is MMPAD’s interpretation that any purchase of land would be premature at this point, without knowing the full detail of faults and if or what can be done for remedial actions to preserve this site for the future.

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MOUNT MORGAN ARGUS DISCLAIMER

The Mount Morgan Argus is published by Mount Morgan Promotion and Development Inc, 1 Railway Parade, Mount Morgan. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publishers. MMPAD reserves the discretionary right to alter, omit, reclassify or postpone publication of articles, photographs or advertisements in the Mount Morgan Argus. MMPAD takes all possible care with the publication of news, names and other information sourced by MMPAD representatives. It does not, however, take responsibility for erroneous information or spelling supplied by external sources. Please take care and ensure that information is correct and names are spelt correctly before submitting any items to this publication. MMPAD Executive

Fireclay Caverns...From Page 2 “This is the main reason MMPAD considers it is important not to wait until the Council is available to act sometime in the future. Mr Steinberger said from what was understood, even if the Council or other parties took ownership of the caverns this would still require government input into the safety of the area and approval for access. Mr Steinberger said there may be reasons why nothing has occurred in the past, but not from the lack of lobbying from MMPAD. “We certainly see this as our best opportunity to take the matter forward to at least finding out the stability of the area and if and what can be done in remedial actions. In short, make the unknowns known.” “MMPAD has asked questions of the council relating to the recent press release. One important question asked was, “Would Council support MMPAD with our proposal to seek audience with the Queensland Premier?”

“In summary my interpretation is, the Queensland Government closed access to the caverns over a decade ago because of safety. It can be debated through an original report highlighting the possibility of collapse. The risk process failed to establish if and when the collapse would occur, but showedconsequences were extremely high. “The lack of solutions in remedial findings is the key factor why the caverns remain closed. After a few years the government department responsible for the mine site no longer saw the caverns as an area of importance with respect to their core business practice. “To reopen access to the caverns again will require solutions derived from stability impact studies with enough detail to appease the WH&S issues raised by the Government and Queensland Government approval process. This is the first essential step to address the caverns stability in enough detail to scope and cost remedial actions hopefully giving way to feasibility studies and business cases. I hope the costs aren’t enormous,” Mr Steinberger said. BICYCLES, BICYCLES, BICYCLES IN 2021

“Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle, I want to ride my “bicycle, bicycle, bicycle” was Queen’s refrain in the 1970s. And riding bicycles was much in evidence in Mount Morgan on Sunday, 25 July. Graeme Meade, a Mount Morgan resident, keen cyclist and operator of Collectables and Memories has again organised a weekend of push bike activities. The third annual bike show was the culmination of a weekend of activities, starting with an old school bike slow ride around Mount Morgan on the Saturday and finishing with the bike show on Sunday. The bike ride had about 20 participants, started at the Police Station, meandered around the western side of town and finished at the old railway tunnel. On Sunday, the third annual Central Queensland Old School Bike Show and Bicycle Swap Meet was held at the Mount Morgan Leichhardt Hotel. Some 80 people attended, coming from near (Rockhampton) and far (Grafton in NSW). Over 50 bikes were exhibited, ranging from the oldest, a 1910 Fitzroy, made in Rockhampton to more modern racing bikes such as John Fisher’s 1974 Road King and Graeme Meade’s Gary Fisher 1990s Joshua Mountain Bike. Awarding the prizes for the various category winners, Graeme Meade said the quality of the bikes shown had improved over the three years of the show and some unique and rare models were exhibited this year. John Fisher from Rockhampton lead the prize pool winning in four categories (Track, Choppers, Customised and Central Queensland made), while Ian Manskie (Road and Coaster Hubs) and Graeme Meade (Mountain Bike and Geared Hubs) both picked up wins in two categories. The other category winners were Alex from Mount Morgan (the youngest competitor) for BMX, Marcus Holmes for Ladies and Mark Harris for Queensland Made. The Best in Show was Ian Manskie’s Healing ladies’ bike from the Coaster Hubs category. All prizes were courtesy of the Mount Morgan’s Wattlebee Next and Collectables and Memories. Graeme is looking forward to next year’s show as he sees the weekend becoming a fixture on the Mount Morgan activities calendar.

THE heralding of a new era

Shane Charlton (above) of Heritage Minerals is the latest to be appointed as Manager of the Mount Morgan Mine. Although this title does not have the same illustrious connotations once had in the gold mine’s wealthy heyday, it is nonetheless significant in terms of the future of the mine. An operating mine will help to solve the environmental issues that have historically plagued the site, Heritage Minerals will utilise world first technology developed and proven by its sister company Green Gold Technology this will deliver clean detoxified tailings to the tailings storage facilities. As a mining professional Shane has travelled the world for both large and small exploration and mining companies, his last overseas position was with Green Gold Technology a company founded by Heritage Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Malcolm Paterson. Mr Paterson is also CEO and founder of Green Gold Technology. When the Mount Morgan Mine opportunity was realised, Shane was called on GGT to assist with the project using a unique drilling/ sampling method that had been used and developed by GGT in remote Central Kalimantan Indonesia whilst working on a mineral sands project. Mackay born, Shane started on site about two years ago, drilling and sampling the historical tailings dams using the unique percussive drilling method that delivers undisturbed and representative samples to the surface these samples represent exactly how the tailings lay in the tailings dams. As a result of this the density of tailings can be measured and a possible increase in reserve estimates realised. “The Exploration and Resources sector have allowed me to travel the world and gain many cultural and professional experiences,” Shane said. “The process of exploration, finding and proving a resource is fascinating, seeing this work eventuate into an operating project is very satisfying.” According to Shane, the Mining and Exploration industries have allowed him to develop his management skill set in what was very remote, stressful, culturally diverse, and underdeveloped parts of the world. Working for a few different companies Shane has travelled to such locations as Laos, Thailand, Botswana, Zambia, Houston (USA), South America, Mexico and most recently Indonesia with GGT. “When you travel for work like this it gives you an opportunity to assimilate into the community – learn their customs and culture – this is something that as a tourist, you would never get to experience,” he said. Shane started his professional journey in the engineering trades and never thought he would end up travelling to developing countries. “Working abroad is a whole new world – I have gone from living in bamboo huts in Asia to grass huts in Africa. “Wages are much lower in developing countries and as a result the projects tend to employ more people. In some remote places we’ve had to use a large teem of men to manhaul drill rigs piece by piece up the side of mountains because of the terrain, helicopters are usually used to transport drill rigs into these types of locations, however they are not always available this is not normal practice in countries like Australia and is only practical when costs can be kept low,” he said While the communities Shane has worked in have been culturally different, so too have the companies for which he has worked, including Oil and Gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Shane has also served almost 15 years with the Australian Army Reserve. “I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy lifelong mateship and relationships that were formed by being a member of the Defence Force. “This training served me will in my management roles later in my professional life,” he said. The Heritage Mineral’s work on the Mount Morgan Mine Project has been kept at a low profile, according to Shane, to avoid misleading the community’s expectations and hopes. Heritage Minerals is the fifth company – Perilya, Moonraker, Norton Gold and Carbine Resources – to investigate the potential of reprocessing the tailings at the Mine. “We are currently waiting for approvals, but we will start to ramp up community engagement and consultation – starting with the Mount Morgan Show and the Wattle Day Festival,” he said. Shane has caught the “love Mount Morgan” bug. “It’s a lovely town and it’s a shame that the mine shut when it did – but there is still a lot of potential for the mine. There are lots of tourism opportunities as well and this is one aspect that Heritage Minerals will look at when operations start with the possibility of the public having access to witness live gold pour’s at the site, Something that is usually not possible due to security restrictions, Mount Morgan would then be one of only two places in Australia that a live gold pours can be witnessed by the public the other being the Perth Mint,” he said. Shane indicated that Heritage Minerals plans to recruit locally for approximately 120 to 150 staff that will be needed once construction of the process plant is completed in late 2022. The construction stage of the project will see the work force on site peek at over 200 people and is planned to start before the end of the year, there will be some technically specific positions that will be filled from elsewhere. Heritage Minerals will have a stall at both the Mount Morgan Show and the Wattle Day Festival. “I invite members of the community to take the opportunity and approach us with any questions or concerns you may have with regards to the project. “I am excited to have been part of developing the Heritage Minerals Project to date at Mount Morgan and look forward to my new role as the project gains government approvals and moves into the construction and operation phases,” he said.