The little town of Blayney, near Orange in the NSW Central West, is no stranger to a gold rush.

Although the Blayney-Kings Plains area was extensively dug out in the 1850s, there is plenty of ground left for a company with plans to build a gold mine.

The McPhillamys mine, proposed by Regis Resources, has become a political football since federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek decided to block a key part of the project.

An illustration of the McPhillamys mine, with Kings Plain houses in the bottom left.Credit: Regis Resources

Specifically, Plibersek rejected the location of the tailings dam – a storage facility for the mining waste – on the headwaters of the Belubula River. She did this not on environmental grounds, but because of Indigenous cultural heritage.

Sections of the media , including The Daily Telegraph, 2GB and Sky News, have been up in arms ever since. This week NSW Premier Chris Minns entered the fray, saying he was “disappointed” by Plibersek’s decision and defending the initial NSW approval.

That does not mean the environmental impact is benign. The Belubula is home to platypus, provides water to neighbouring farms and flows into the Carcoar Dam, used for recreation. It eventually joins the Lachlan River, part of the Murray-Darling basin.

Building a dam means plugging up springs that feed the river. The company’s own environmental impact statement admits there will be seepage. If the dam wall........

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