“Clearly it is too risky to put a cyanide leach gold mine on the edge of a precious lake and wetland system. Australia has already lost an astronomical 89% of our wetlands.”

-- Ruth Rosenhek, Coalition to Protect Lake Cowal

Stop Gold Mine, Protect Wetlands & Migratory Birds / Australia - Archived

Wetlands act as giant sponges, absorbing rainfall and slowly releasing it over time. They control floods, purify water, provide wildlife habitat and supply food for 400 million people. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports that the Earth has lost over one half of its wetlands in the last 100 years. In fact, WWF warns that freshwater ecosystems are declining faster by far than forest, grassland and coastal ecosystems worldwide.

In Australia, where 89% of wetlands are already destroyed, a coalition of environmental organizations is determined to protect Lake Cowal from industrial contamination. The largest natural lake in New South Wales and the heart of the Wilbertroy-Cowal Wetlands in the Jemalong Plain, Lake Cowal is listed in Australia’s Directory of Important Wetlands. The Australian Heritage Commission recommended Lake Cowal’s nomination for listing under the Ramsar Convention as a Wetland of International Importance.

To the Aboriginal traditional owners, the Wiradjuri, Lake Cowal and surrounding land is a sacred area, the “heartland” of their nation. The Mooka Traditional Owners Council within the Wiradjuri Nation has submitted a Native Title Claim over an area including the lake.

To environmentalists, birders and school children of New South Wales, Lake Cowal is precious habitat for native and migratory birds. Of the 172 species of birds that rely on Lake Cowal, many are migratory species protected under Australia-Japan and Australia-China conservation agreements for migratory birds. Australian school children welcome the Latham snipe back from Japan each September with a "Snipefest," and exchange legends about migratory species with Japanese classrooms.

To Canada-based Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s second largest gold producer, Lake Cowal is their next gold mine. Barrick wants to dig an enormous open pit (one kilometer wide and 325 meters deep) on the shore of Lake Cowal. They would use cyanide, a dangerous poison, to leach bits of gold out of the low- and medium-grade ore, with only an earthen barrier separating the mine from the lake. If they produce the amount of gold they are projecting for the site, they will leave behind 76 million tonnes of toxic tailings – 28 tonnes for each ounce of gold extracted.

“This mine presents an alarming risk to environ-mental and social health…and there is no way of guaranteeing that accidents will not occur if it is allowed to proceed,” says Ruth Rosenhek, of the Coalition to Protect Lake Cowal. In February, cyanide solution was spilled during transportation from an Australian mine and killed over 500 birds; in 1995 over 2,000 birds died at a gold mine tailings dam near Lake Cowal. Aware of these and many other cyanide leach mining disasters worldwide, thousands of New South Wales citizens have signed a petition to ban this type of mining in the state.

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