Rocla’s sand castles will leave no water

Driving into Peats Ridge festival this year, although the air was as fresh and the skies as bright, something was different. Every few hundred metres a hand-painted sign warned party seekers that the ridge is under threat from the ravages of a sand-mining giant.

As thousands stomped bare footed to loud beats, amid the Hare Krishna and Chai stalls was a reminder that the pristine bush plateau is in danger.

The community around Calga and Peats Ridge are fighting tooth and nail to stop the New Zealand based multi-national Rocla from expanding their sand mining operation in the pristine bushland they call home.

The Calga and Peats Ridge Community Group have already sent thousands of petitions to NSW Planning Minister Tony Kelly – who ultimately has the final say under the the state’s controversial 3A legislation – asking him not to approve Rocla’s application to expand sand mining on the ridge.

Belinda Orban is one of the group of residents trying to stop the mine’s expansion.

“It can’t go ahead,” Belinda said. “Not just this particular mine, but the whole plateau can not be mined. It has been earmarked for sand mining, and it has to be stopped.”

The community’s major concern with the mine is that it will deplete the aquifer that farmers in the area rely on.

Farmers who use bore water have already noticed a stark drop in the water table during the decade that Rocla has operated in the area.

“It used to take a couple of hours to fill up a tank and now it takes a couple of days,” Belinda told the City Hub.

The sand mine expansion would destroy a birthing site that is sacred to the Mingaletta Aboriginal women of the area.

Belinda said she and other women members of the community group were privileged to be shown the site. “It gave me goosebumps to go there, it was incredible,” she said.

“The government really doesn’t care, it’s left to the people to campaign and to fight for what is right.”

BY LIZ CUSH