The farmers in Kingaroy barely had time to celebrate the end of Cougar Energy’s underground coal gasification attempt when they found out that the Queensland government had given its approval for exploration permits to Volcanic Holdings to look for volcanic bauxite.
The fertile red volcanic soils in the region have fallen out of the government’s Strategic Cropping Land guidelines.
This makes it difficult for the farmers to get protection under the SCL guidelines for their farms. The secretary of the Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group, John Dalton said that the granting of mining exploration permits and the refusal of protection under the SCL is being seen as a coordinated event by some members of the group.
Mr Dalton felt that the state government was determined to mine the region despite landowner opposition. He added that the KCCG had spoken with both Ministers Kate Jones and Stephen Robertson during the Cougar fiasco. He said that if they wanted cooperation from local communities, they have to spend time informing and consulting locally.
The landowners are planning on a meeting next month and Mr Dalton is asking all the farmers from Murgon right through to the south down to Bell and out to Kumbia, Nanango, and anyone who believes that they are on red volcanic soil to come to this meeting. He said that they really could not allow this company to go strip mining all the good farming land to satisfy the bauxite needs.
The community meetings will garner support for the farmers and the KCCG will then contact the Department of Environment and Resource Management and the Department of Mines and Energy to remind them of the promises they made during the Cougar Energy problems.