General News
17 November, 2025
Battle of Sporting Flat
SMALL scale prospecting planned in the Loddon Shire will meet Victoria’s mining code of practice, angry neighbours have been told.
Matt Carkeek has a prospecting licence for land he owns in Sporting Flat Road, Dunolly, and has applied for a planning permit from Loddon Shire.
The site is 1.1km inside the Loddon boundary and some neighbours are preparing objections to Mr Carkeek’s plans for part-time prospecting on his land. They told an impromptu protest meeting on Sunday of concerns that bulldozers would work the site up to “12 hours a day, seven days week”.
Mr Carkeek said his family operation was for prospecting which was not of the level claimed by opponents.
Neil Harris said: “We are extremely concerned about the application for a so-called ‘low risk’ gold mine proposed to operate opposite, and in close proximity to our homes.
“Our properties are zoned rural living, and the subject land is also zoned rural living with both an environmental significance overlay and an inundation overlay.
“The land is surrounded by State Forest, zoned public conservation and resource, highlighting the area’s environmental importance.
“We are deeply concerned about the potential for long-term environmental harm, damage to the land, and the negative effects on our wellbeing, amenity, and property values.
“Gold mining activities, whether small-scale or commercial, by their very nature pose substantial risks of soil degradation, habitat destruction, and groundwater contamination.
“These impacts are often irreversible and fundamentally alter the balance of the surrounding ecosystem,” Mr Harris said. Walter Raschle said his home was across the road from the proposed prospect and said he had been blindsided by the plans after receiving advice from council.
“We are in a rural living area and the land feeds into a water catchment,” he said.
But not all neighbours are against the mining prospect that saw Mr Carkeek advertise his licence application in March.
Michael Spiteri said: “I support his right as a ratepaying landowner to use his land within the bounds of the law, which is what he is doing. Dunolly is a well known place for its gold and we are not living in a museum. If he (Mr Carkeek) doesn’t remove the gold, somebody else will.”