The Conservation Council of Western Australia will continue to investigate environmental impacts of King George Sound dredging, although this project was suspended, reports abc.net.au.
Grange Resources’ Southdown project, which has been questioned by the local officials, is located near the Wellstead community, approximately 90km northeast of the Port of Albany on the south coast of Western Australia.
The Southdown deposit extends approximately 12km in length, with the western six kilometres held by the SDJV under three granted mining leases (M70/422, M70/713, and M70/719) covering an area of more than 1700 hectares on freehold farming property. The remaining six kilometres of orebody is covered by an Exploration License E70/2512, also held by the SDJV.
All dredging activities can cause some change to the hydrodynamic flow, while the magnitude and type of effect will be related to the overall size of the excavation compared to the overall size of the system, according to The UK Marine SACs Project website. Most reported adverse effects of dredging on hydrodynamics and geomorphology of coastal and estuarine areas are associated with capital dredging operations.
King George Sound dredging could have negative consequences, ABC news cites Dr. Nic Dunlop, a member of the Conservation Council of WA, as saying.
“ We’re still doing that baseline work and we’ll probably continue to do it until we’re satisfied that we’ve got what we need, then we may have to put it on hold until we think that the project may be going ahead ,” he added.
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Dredging Today Staff, December 10, 2012