Protecting the Mudgee region from potential environmental and health disaster
The Mudgee Region Action Group (MRAG), formerly the Lue Action Group, is a dedicated community alliance committed to safeguarding the environment, farmland, and cultural heritage of the Mudgee region from the impacts of the proposed Bowdens Silver Mine near Lue, NSW.
Since 2011, MRAG has united farmers, Traditional Custodians, environmentalists, health professionals, and local residents to raise awareness about the risks posed by the mine. The proposed open-cut operation, located just two kilometres from the village of Lue, threatens to disrupt a sensitive landscape with around-the-clock blasting, tailings dams, and water-intensive processing. The site is also close to homes and a primary school, raising serious health concerns, especially given the mine’s ore composition.
Although promoted as a silver project, the mine’s conmposition is primarily zinc and lead, with 51% zinc, 49% lead and just 1% silver. MRAG members argue that the open-cut mining of lead so close to the community is particularly alarming. One of the original conditions of consent included offering residents blood lead level testing, which the group sees as an implicit admission of risk.
In August 2024, MRAG celebrated a landmark victory when the NSW Court of Appeal upheld an appeal against the mine's approval, citing the Independent Planning Commission's failure to consider the environmental impacts of a 13-kilometre transmission line integral to the project. As a result, the mine's approval was declared "void and of no effect," halting construction plans.
Despite this ruling, the mining company, Silver Mines Limited, remains committed to the project and is actively seeking to reinstate development consent by addressing the court's concerns.
MRAG continues to advocate for the protection of the region's natural and cultural assets, emphasizing that while they are not opposed to mining, they stand against mining in the wrong place.
Learn more and get involved at www.lueactiongroup.org
