The Conondale Ranges are an area of high conservation value. Areas of it are listed on the National Estate and yet, right in the middle, lies an ugly scar - and a reminder.

In the mid 1970s, a small mine operated at the site. When Astrik Resources took over in the eighties, a massive expansion took place. Mountains were literally moved in the search for gold, the ore being treated on site.

The Conondale Range Committee, formed in 1976 to press for a larger National Park, suddenly found itself facing a threat of a totally different kind. The massive depredations involved in clearing and earthmoving, not to mention the toxic nature of the cyanide used in the treatment process, posed enormous problems.

At a cost of nearly a million dollars, an electricity line was taken in through the forest, the cyanide tailings dam built, the mine pit dug and a treatment plant built. All this in an area which had recorded the highest 24 hour rainfall in South-east Queensland.
It seemed nothing would stop this insidious venture - after all, Queensland had been virtually founded on a series of gold-strikes and gold fever. This ‘rush’ seemed to reach into the speculative stock market as well.

There are times when the smallest of things bring down the greatest. The gold proved to be not quite as abundant as initially thought and high levels of copper made treatment more expensive. It became unviable to keep digging. Yet the plant had cost a lot to set up, and thus, in a desperate attempt to recoup some of the costs, a plan was proposed to truck ore in for processing. It stretched credibility that ore from all over South-east Queensland would be hauled up these narrow, winding roads to this de facto industrial zone high in top conservation value forest. Kenilworth Township faced the prospect of a 25 tonne ore truck passing through every quarter hour, the only respite being a few hours between midnight and dawn.

Then it happened. At Yednia, near Kilcoy, en route to the mine, six drums of cyanide fell off a truck and two burst open. It was downhill for the miners after that. State Cabinet vetoed the trucking proposal and soon after, in 1989, Astrik was declared bankrupt and announced that it wouldn't be able to carry out the necessary rehabilitation. The eventual cost to decommission the site was over one million dollars.

In 1991, the new Labor government put up a quarter of a million dollars to decontaminate the water and fill in the tailings dam. After five years of further agitation to complete the rehabilitation, an Agricola Consultative Committee was set up consisting of representatives of the various departments and involved conservation interests. A budget allocation of over $800 000 was eventually made and a committed Environment Officer appointed.

The acidified water in the open cut pit or “blue lagoon”, contaminated with various heavy metals, was treated, filled and capped; major earthworks were carried out and the site seeded and planted.

What was once a very hostile environment is now a totally different sight as the trees have grown so much that it’s possible to lose your way on this 16ha site. It will be years, though, before it returns to anything like its original state.