Vol. No. Vol. 2818No. 9 27
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Wednesday, 13, 2025 2016 Wednesday,January August 27,
RELATABLE: Horsham College’s production 13 The Musical opens at Horsham Town Hall tomorrow night, with seasoned performers from its student body telling the story of teenagers growing up and fitting in. The family-friendly production will be paired with a foyer display of resources available to young people in the Wimmera who may need support. Limited tickets are still available from the Horsham Town Hall website and box office for Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows, starting at 7.30pm each night. Tiffany Petering, Piper Taylor, Isaac Gregor, Isabella Iuele and Ray Barr are pictured portraying the ‘jocks’. More pictures, page 19. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER.
Mine pipeline starts C
BY LAUREN HENRY
onstruction will soon begin on an 11-kilometre pipeline to enable water for the Donald Mineral Sands project, south-east of Minyip.
The pipeline connects into the Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline system via a GWMWater pipeline at the Gun Club Road pump station, travelling to the mine site. DMS is paying for the pipeline, but it will be owned and operated by GWMWater, allowing for other users to also source water from the pipeline. Work on the pipeline, in the public road reserve along Minyip-Banyena Road and Gun Club Road to Walsh Lane, is due to start next week.
The pipeline will allow for the installation of water supply infrastructure for the mine, which expects to draw between two and three gigalitres of water from the pipeline annually. In 2011, DMS purchased a 6.975-gigalitre water entitlement from GWMWater for $17.95-million. The entitlement came from savings created by the Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline project. A DMS spokesperson said DMS would also pay ongoing fixed charges and water use charges once the pipeline was operational. The spokesperson said the water entitlement was subject to the annual allocation in any particular year to which the Wimmera-Glenelg system
storage manager allocated to entitlement holders. “The DMS allocation is no more secure than other entitlements. DMS’ total water usage across all sources will vary depending on operational requirements,” he said. “Holding a secure allocation of 6.975 gigalitres means that if an allocation of 50 per cent or less is provided in any one year, DMS still has enough water to operate.” Ryan Milgate, whose farm neighbours the land set to be mined and is a member of the Dunmunkle Land Protection Group, said there was concern in the community and agricultural industry about how much water the mine would use.
“ GWMWater hasn’t convinced us properly yet that they have the capacity to supply the water to the mine and that no other existing customer will be any worse off than they are now,” he said. Mr Milgate said his estimates showed rural customers – not those in town – used between 6.5 to nine gigalitres a year, and DMS was set to use two to three gigalitres. “That’s coming up to half what the whole of the rest of the rural demand on the pipeline system is,” he said. “Given it’s one supply line – the line they run on keeps going north and ends up at Woomelang – the question is ‘are the people at Woomelang going to be any worse off in the middle of
summer when DMS is pulling a heap of water out?’. “Is the pipeline going to be sufficient? I’m not thoroughly convinced that those calculations are done. I don’t know, but we’re looking for answers on it.” Mr Milgate said there was also concern in the community about enough water being secured for recreational lakes when the region experienced years of low rainfall. The DMS spokesperson said DMS was committed to responsible and efficient water use, through multiple sources and reuse, ensuring operations did not impact community water security. Continued page 3
INSIDE: 16-page lift-out previewing Wimmera league football and netball teams ahead of finals Phone: 03 5382 1351 Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au
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