Bauxite miner lodges exploration licence
On the same day, a new application for the exact same tenement site was submitted.
This time, by PBX Aust Pty Ltd, a bauxite mining company focused on Western Australia.
The new application is now numbered E70/6727, and it’s currently pending.
The original letter Mr Witt received in February included a map that showed where nearby exploration licences were pending.
Including application E70/5372, lodged by Chalice Gold Mining (CGM) in March 2020, which captures large sections of the south and west of Toodyay, and Hoddy’s Well.
The map given to Mr Witt charts the course of a region slowly being surrounded by mining interests, and he wants others to be aware.
Although the original letter from the geologist stated legal requirements would be followed – including the need for landowner permission – Mr Witt worries many people won’t realise they have a choice.
“You are not obliged to let mining companies onto your land,” he said.
Mr Witt’s advice is not just a message, it’s a hard-earned truth.
He’s fought this battle before alongside his neighbours when a mining company threatened their homes in Chittering, where he used to live.
In the end it was a battle they won but the toll was immense.
For Mr Witt personally, it cost $50,000 and a decade of his life.
“We managed to stop it by the skin of our teeth but collectively it cost us $250,000.”
He said the fight was diabolical.
“It got very nasty and it was exhausting.”
Mr Witt’s experience highlights the fact, mining exploration applications don’t always end up as full-scale mining projects.
Tenements are withdrawn for various reasons, including not enough minerals found, shifting market prices or high extraction costs.
The process can also drag on for years as land access must first be negotiated with private landowners, and ultimate approval rests with the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.
For Mr Witt, the slow churn of the mining approvals process isn’t just a bureaucratic wait – it’s a source of relentless anxiety.
He understands that nothing happens overnight but he said the possibility that something might be found and the uncertainty of not knowing if, when, or how his life might be upturned was mentally exhausting.
“We are constantly reminded of the importance of looking out for each other by the vehicle of government-funded mental health awareness campaigns because of how destructive and costly anxiety can be to both individuals and communities,” he said.
Slow mining approvals a ‘source of relentless anxiety’
“What excuse then do we create that allows us to disregard the plight of individuals in these circumstances where their life and livelihoods are jeopardised or even destroyed completely?”
Mr Witt’s home is a haven of natural beauty and it’s not just the loss of his own sanctuary that haunts him – it’s the loss of something irreplaceable for the next generation.
It has left him questioning the values of those in power, who fail to consider the broader consequences of environmental destruction.
“The one thing we’re not doing in our history is looking at the entire picture,” he said.
“We need to be looking at this holistically.
“We need to review every single mine – every historic land clearing – every mine that wasn’t rehabilitated – or never returned to how it was.
“We’re not being introspective enough about what we’ve done in the past, and what we’re doing right now.”
In a world where we are constantly reminded of the importance of mental health, Mr Witt questions how decision-makers can still allow individuals to bear the crushing emotional weight of decisions made without their voice, their consent or their well-being in mind.
When property-owners are approached by mining companies, his plea is for people to begin to see the full picture – past, present, and future – and to ask themselves whether profit should come at the cost of people, land, and legacy.