Tom Gleeson has used his star power for a second time to help shut down mining plans spanning a huge area of the Macedon Ranges from Hesket to Pipers Creek and Nulla Vale.
The comedian, who calls Romsey home, red-flagged two exploration licence applications on social media last week, showing once again that mining Macedon Ranges is no laughing matter.
“Macedon Ranges! The mining companies are back. We’ve stopped them before. Stop them again,” he warned.
Melbourne-based mining company Syndicate Minerals lodged the applications in early April to conduct ‘low impact geological surveys’ for gold over five years, but withdrew them on Friday.
The ‘Woodend’ project took in parts of Pipers Creek, Hesket, Newham and Romsey, while the ‘Lancefield’ project spanned 924km2 including parts of Baynton, Pastoria, Sidonia and Nulla Vale.
Their bid to uncover gold follows a trend across the region as mining companies seek to replicate the success of Fosterville mine just outside of Bendigo.
Gleeson notoriously stopped gold exploration of 234km2 near Romsey and Lancefield with a 5276-strong petition against Perth mining company Macedon Resources back in 2018.
He again urged those against the latest mining bid to lodge an objection and succeeded in his bid to shut down the operation before it began.
Relieved at the news, Gleeson again took to social media to thank fellow objectors.
“We did it again! Thank you for keeping the Macedon Ranges free of mining. Best way to stop a mine is to make sure it never starts,” he said.
Syndicate Minerals still has two active applications in the region. A ‘Harcourt’ project is 31km south-east of Bendigo, which takes in parts of Elphinstone, Faraday and Metcalfe, while a ‘Lockwood’ project is described as 10km south-west of Bendigo.
