By LYN JABLONSKI

Opal miners across the Lightning Ridge region, including the Glengarry, Grawin and Sheepyards areas, as well as those in the White Cliffs region have been slapped with what they say are devastating consequences due to bureaucratic bungling.

At least 390 local miners turned out for an Information Session called by Mining Exploration and Geoscience (MEG) at the Lighting Ridge Bowling Club on Tuesday 30 May.

The session was organised as news spread that thousands of mining leases had been deemed invalid and a 'stop work' order was issued, leaving almost 900 local opal miners out of work.

The MEG is part of the Department of Regional NSW, the central agency for regional issues in the state, and part of their role is to assess and determine applications for mining exploration and extraction.

According to a spokesperson from MEG, who conducted the meeting, "There were changes made to the NSW (mining) Act, following an independent review known as the Wilcox Report. The changes were effective from 1 January 2015."

The spokesperson explained that a particular section of the Act sets prerequisites that the Department needs to be completed before a mineral claim was issued.

"Due to a heap of feedback about our forms and processes and an odd complaint from industry and other stakeholders, we started reviewing all our processes."

As a result, the Department discovered the forms used were outdated, and there were issues with maps of the fields.

"As a result, mining claims post-1 January 2015 to 13 February 2023 are invalid and must be redetermined," the spokesperson told the meeting.

"The reason is the criteria around landholder notification. The Department must be satisfied that this has been done as it has not been done to the standard required." 

Recently those miners were told they could not continue to work their claims until the problem – repeatedly referred to throughout the meeting as “a massive stuff up” - had been sorted.

Miners who have had claims granted before 1 January 2015 may still have issues with the paperwork, but they are not significant enough to stop mining.

A full lounge at Lightning Ridge Bowling Club showed the level of concern among local miners. PHOTO: Stephen Aracic facebook.

All other mining claims must be re-lodged by mail and miners were told processing could take anywhere from seven days to eight weeks.

There was clear scepticism among the crowd about whether more than 3000 leases could be processed in that time.

Miners will also need to contact landholders to notify them they will be mining on their property. However, some miners say it has been difficult to contact landholders due to privacy issues.

There were a myriad of questions from the audience, and it was quite clear that many miners could not afford to drop tools for up to eight weeks, as mining is their only income.

Opal miners must 'cease all activities' until their leases can be reassessed. IMAGE: aihs.org.au

The final question/statement came from Lightning Ridge opal miner, Dave Brown.

 "At the risk of stating the obvious, we are in the middle of a cost of living crisis across Australia," he said.

"In this room, you have people suffering because of that, and now you want to shut down a whole industry. You say there isn't a way to get through this (mining claim) process."

According to the spokesperson, nothing can be done until the Mining Act is changed, which is a long, drawn-out process.

Mr Brown continued, "You have around 30 landholders affected by this, and over 3000 miners claims plus a whole community affected.

"Why is it you can't have an agreement in principle with landholders? A two-stage process that lets the landholders give the understanding to go on their land and lets miners continue mining, then go through the process to mop things up."

Hundreds of miners registered to attend an information session organised by MEG in Lightning Ridge on Tuesday. PHOTO: Stephen Aracic facebook

Another miner who did not wish to disclose his name said, "Everything from lack of food on the table to mental health issues for families - the implications are insurmountable for many miners without incomes for up to eight weeks. This is a cost the NSW government must take into consideration.”

MEG did not mention any possibility of compensation from the NSW Government for the affected miners.

The Department's website says they are, "prioritising redetermination of invalidly granted mineral claims at this time."

A dedicated project team has been established to prioritise redetermination of applications. 

In Question Time at the NSW Parliament on 23 May, Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos said, "We are deploying additional resources and are committed to working as quickly as possible to fix this."

Further information will be available in an online webinar at 10am today (Thursday 1 June) for miners followed by a webinar for landholders at 1pm.