Councillor accuses Cadia of breaking promises at mining inquiry

Bruce Reynolds lives about 9.5km from the Newcrest gold mine and towards the start of 2023, said blood results showed he and his family had been exposed to heavy metals such as nickel, zinc, lead and copper.

Mr Reynolds believes these results were at least in part, due to dust being blown over from the mine into nearby water tanks, although numerous studies have suggested Cadia was not at fault.

These comments were reiterated on Tuesday, October 3 when Mr Reynolds addressed his concerns to the NSW Legislative Council during a parliamentary inquiry into the mining industry.

"(My family) were the first to be told not to drink our water as it contained high levels of heavy metals," he recalled.

"We were the first individuals that were told not to touch the water. Could you imagine getting that message late on a Friday afternoon not to drink your water? It was about six o'clock at night.

"We immediately got water from Orange. We bought containers so that we had safe drinking water and undertook other activities such as washing our clothes in Orange at a family member's house."

It was soon after this that Mr Reynolds and his family got their blood tested which returned a mixture of heavy metals for himself, his wife and their daughter.

After ordering a re-test, the councillor approached Cadia and asked for a meeting. This meeting came towards the end of February in 2023.

"They came to our house. They came to our kitchen table and made a number of promises," Mr Reynolds said.

"Very few of those promises have been delivered, quite sadly."

Although Mr Reynolds did not expand on all of the promises he said were made to his family, he did say Cadia had not cleaned their water tanks.

"Which was a promise made at the kitchen table," he added.

"We approached Cadia and said, 'Look, we've got a problem.' They made certain assurances at the kitchen table."

Mr Reynolds did admit no contracts were signed and the only assurances he had were verbal.

A Newcrest spokeswoman said any exceedances against the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines detected during Cadia's independent water sampling program were offered cleaning and refilling of water tanks, and where appropriate first flush or filtration systems, "regardless of where the contamination may have come from."

"Working with the local community - whether that be residents living near the mine or across the Central West more broadly - is a key focus area for us as we work to rebuild trust and respect in the community," they added.

"We are a long-standing member of the community and remain firmly committed to meeting all our obligations in a way that is aligned with our values."

Since those initial blood tests, Mr Reynolds said their family had now installed three levels of filtration at the house.

The final level was a reverse osmosis for drinking water which cost nearly $8000.

"My family is now relatively healthy," Mr Reynolds added.

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