Paula McIver and Danny Ballard, who sit on the Woodsreef Community Advisory Group, say they have been deceived on key aspects of last month’s demolition of the asbestos-ridden mill house.

The locals maintain they received assurances on many occasions from the government’s Woodsreef taskforce that contractors engaged to raze the eight-storey structure near Barraba  would not employ explosives.

The mill house was removed in a “controlled collapse” on February 6, with NSW Trade and Investment telling The Leader the work was carried out with “suitably sized excavators and shears”.

However, the emergence of photos appearing to show clouds of dust emanating from the site during the demolition prompted The Leader to seek clarification and a spokesperson confirmed last week “small charges” had, in fact, been used.

Mrs McIver and Mr Ballard also say the Woodsreef taskforce promised them all building materials from the demolition would be placed in a large containment cell and buried at the toxic site.

But in recent weeks numerous trucks have been spotted leaving the mine carrying loads of steel. 

The NSW Trade and Investment spokesperson said the recycling of materials had “always been an option” and the contractor was working to a WorkCover NSW and Environment Protection Authority-reviewed transport plan.

“Large steel material from the mill building is being decontaminated on site and then removed by truck to Newcastle where it will be recycled,” the spokesperson said.

Mrs McIver said the three local members of Woodsreef Community Advisory Group were angry that NSW Trade and Investment, which has engaged NSW Public Works and several specialist contractors to handle the rehabilitation, were not being upfront.

“All of us are furious,” she said. “We feel as though we have been lied to all along the line.

“They told us they didn’t use explosives and the only reason why they’re coming out now and saying they did use some little ones is because they know we have a picture and they can’t worm out of it.”

Mr Ballard said the point of having an advisory group was for the community to be kept informed on the rehabilitation of the mine, which the NSW Ombudsman described in 2010 as an “environmental disaster”.

“It’s all been imploded exactly how they said it wouldn’t be,” he said. “I don’t care so much that that’s what they’ve done, but I believe I’ve been lied to, which is what annoys me.

“This mine is a lingering, festering sore sitting out there and the community likes to know what’s going on.

“There’s some people very concerned about safety and the (possibility) of asbestos washing into Ironbark Creek and into Split Rock Dam.”

NSW Trade and Investment maintains air quality monitors placed downwind of the site did not detect the spread of any asbestos fibres during the mill house’s demolition.

Open-cut asbestos mining first occurred at Woodsreef from 1919 to 1923 before the Chrysotile Corporation ran the mine between 1970 until its closure in 1983.

In 2011, the NSW government allocated $6.3 million to “address the most significant health, safety and environment issues” at the mine.