We have fallen into a rabbit hole of endless false promises and hopes in dealing with various government departments with regards to abandoned mines, now called, Legacy Mines.
Legacy mines are old mine workings that no owner can be found, and they then become the liability of the government. Then, its soley at the discretion of the NSW minister whether they fix any problems.
For us, its a facade, they can never fix anything because there is no budget to fix these old legacy mines – in 2019 (according to the NSW government website) they were managing 645 legacy mines, with a budget of $2.8million.
So what happens when these old mine workings join together and water flows through these mines permanently into our properties. What happens when Newcastle Council stormwater pipes and Hunter Water pipes break and this water flows into the mines and then into our properties. What happens when we have mine subsidence is constantly damaging our properties. After 14+ years, the answer is….. nothing.
Mayfield Mines is a video series about historical Legacy Mines in Mayfield.
Does the NSW government have a duty of care to manage Legacy Mines?