Centius Gold has planned a survey of the Orara Valley and Dorrigo on the New South Wales mid-north coast this week. The aerial survey conducted by Thomson Aviation will be looking for gold deposits. Centius is focusing on exploring old goldfields that date back to the mid 1800s.
The managing director of Centius Gold, John Slade said that they had a geologist and assistant going around all the old mine sites in the Dorrigo area over the tenement that they held. They were collecting samples from each of the old mine sites.
They hope to reopen the old mine near Coramba. However the Clarence Valley conservationists are not thrilled with the geological survey that Centius Gold is performing. The main concern is regarding the impact that gold mining in the region would have on drinking water supplies.
Judith Melville, a community-based environmental campaigner said that a lot of the water would be in the Nymboida and Orara river catchments. She added that both those catchments hold the safety net dams that contribute to the urban water supply for probably roughly around 150,000 people all combined.
Centius Gold is not the only company looking at mine sin the region. Altius Mining is also interested in a mine at Karangi while Anchor Resources is looking at possibly setting up a mine at Bielsdown located 15 km north of Dorrigio.