Sticking your head in the sand only hurts your own eyes, it does nothing to protect your ass.
When mining activities affect local communities, it is completely reasonable that many will simply wish it will all go away. Unfortunately, mining profits are the only driving force - so face facts and either fight or flee (or just play along).
The following is an extract of a letter written by an local resident affected by the coal mines in the Stroud / Gloucester region. It suggests that many may be choosing the option of "getting out while the goings good". Fine, but pretending there is nothing going on behind the hedge is fooling no one.
When selling a property in NSW, the seller is obliged to "bare all" - the seller must disclose to the buyer any matters of which they are aware about the property including matters of adverse affectation and of any burdens on title. Of course the seller may deny knowledge of any mining activity as in exploration licences, but once a mining lease is granted the landowners affected will know - so any seller may tread a fine legal line if they get tend to get sandy eyes syndrome.
Extract:
"Some people in the community around Gloucester and down the valley would prefer that no mention be made of the impact of mining on our region.
The best construction that can be put on this ostrich attitude is “if we don’t talk about it, it will go away”.
However, another reason behind this attitude is self-interest. One concern is that property values will fall if it becomes common knowledge that mining threatens large tracts of land. Some real estate agents and vendors would rather that prospective purchasers were not frightened off by this fact. They feel it is acceptable to lie by omission or to suppress the information, sell the property, make a profit and get out. Once the deal is through the mines are the new owner’s problem. The law prescribes matters that must be revealed to purchasers and each buyer must do their own investigation but attempting to suppress public information is hardly ethical.
A local author was recently published in the Newcastle Herald, the point of the article was, if you want to see the beauty of the region be quick, as it may not persist. Some berated the author, saying that expressing this opinion was traitorous. Not that it was false but that it should never have been said. Anti-mining signs have been ripped down or defaced. This is censorship.
People have been verbally abused and even threatened with a lawsuit for publicising mining activity. Bullying is unacceptable.
Muzzling any opinion or “shooting” the messengers will resolve nothing and only cause ill will. Everyone is entitled to a point of view in our democracy. Let us have all views put openly and let the people decide the right and wrong."
This letter was published in the Gloucester Advocate.