More than 100 people attended a meeting on Wednesday night at the Corryong Sporting Complex to be updated on the progress of Dart Mining’s proposal to start construction of the mine in mid-2015, in preparation for production to begin in early 2017.

The company plans to mine molybdenum, copper and silver deposits at Mount Unicorn.

Dart Mining managing director Lindsay Ward said that if the production phase of the project went ahead a large number of jobs would be created, impacting on the town greatly.

“If the community supports mining activities then it will be of great benefit to them,” he said.

Mr Ward also addressed the concerns of residents and said the environmental approvals process, which involves various studies, would determine the impact mining production would have on the community in the Upper Murray.

“It’s too early to tell what the environmental impacts will be and answer many of the questions residents have,” Mr Ward said.

“We see community consultation to be important in the early stages of a project because it is far better to have an informed community than one that relies on rumour.”

Production at Mount Unicorn was not definite because it depended on results from pre-feasibility studies, community concerns and the level of the Australian dollar.

Concerns from the public revolved around the management of tailings or wasted rock and water.

“People wanted to understand more about how we’d manage the tailings but we need to do further studies on that,” Mr Ward said.

“There is also a lot of water involved in mining and people want to know where it will be coming from and how much we’ll need.”

Mr Ward said they were also conducting smaller focus group meetings with residents from the Biggara and Bunroy valley.