14th January 2014 Activists have blockaded the Maules Creek mine site at Boggabri in New South Wales, Australia, for three days now.
14th January 2014 Activists have blockaded the Maules Creek mine site at Boggabri in New South Wales, Australia, for three days now.
On Monday, 30 protestors, including members of Aboriginal groups and the organization Leard Forest Alliance, descended on the site, with some locking themselves to heavy machines.
Yesterday, 10 more protestors joined the group, re-enforcing an ad-hoc encampment and locking down to bulldozers.
The Leard Forest is set to be destroyed by the open pit coal mine, and the heavy machines are supposed to start clearing forest for Witehaven Coal’s operation. The forest is important habitat, as well as a cultural and burial site for Aboriginal people in the area.
Activist group the Leard Forest Alliance said the heavy vehicles were at the site to begin clearing forest for a road and railway line to service Whitehaven Coal’s $767 million open-cut coalmine. The alliance says the mine will destroy Aboriginal cultural and burial sites and valuable forest and animals.