A new sand mine in western Victoria will force a family from the farm it has lived on for five generations as the mining of critical minerals in Australia ramps up. The Byrne family does not want to move, but Victorian law does not five them many options. Leaving experts questioning whether something needs to change.
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00:00How do we know it's good barley, boys?
00:05David Byrne's connection to his century-old family farm runs deep.
00:09I was actually born here, born in the house behind us, in Mum and Dad's bedroom.
00:14His father, Peter, doesn't want to lose where he raised his family.
00:18The grandkids, they want to come back here and they love riding the bikes that their
00:22Mums and Dads rode, the same tracks are still here.
00:27But under Victorian law, they'll soon be forced to make way for a sands mine.
00:31Critical minerals that are important, not just for today, but our future.
00:35Astron Corporation is preparing to mine 2,700 hectares of farmland in Banyina in Western
00:41Victoria to extract rare earth minerals that will be shipped to the US and refined into
00:46uranium.
00:48And farmers can't argue against it, because in Australia, the government owns the minerals
00:52regardless of whose land they're in.
00:55There's no veto right for a landowner.
00:57The best pathway for them is to participate in negotiation, ensure that they're getting
01:02the appropriate compensation.
01:04Securing a mining licence takes decades, and most projects fail, leaving many farmers unsure
01:11when and how to engage.
01:12The state of Victoria is coloured by licences, and so it is very hard to know when to participate
01:20and when to allow access to a miner.
01:22But as more mines overlap with farms, experts say it's important to get the balance right.
01:28You can't automatically say that mining is in the best public interest, because farming
01:33is critically important as well.
01:35After four generations of farming, David Byrne is fighting to protect his family and livelihood.
01:41I have no interest in leaving, I don't want to leave, they couldn't pay me enough to find
01:45another place, another area, this is home for me and I always want it to be home, I
01:50want it to be home for my kids.