More than 150 years later, the Cowal gold mine near West Wyalong announced a modern day “gold rush” last month with its board approving an investment of approximately $270 million to increase production and extend the life of mine by eight years to 2032. Rated among the top five biggest gold mines in Australia, total production is set to increase to 1.2 million ounces.

Just as all the discoveries of gold all over Australia has boosted the economy, an immediate benefit of the Cowal mine expansion is an increase in employees with 48 new operators in the open pit and the plant.

Community Relations Officer at the mine, Tony Glasgow said interviews for the new positions had already started this week.

The mine currently employs about 400 staff and contractors from the Forbes, Bland and Lachlan Shires, with 64 residents catching the bus from Forbes.

The new investment will deliver two major projects over the next four years: the E42 stage H cutback and the dual leach pro- ject. The E42 stage H cutback will widen and deepen the existing open pit by at least 80m. The pit is currently 340m deep. This has been made possible by a 145% or 2.28 million gold ounces increase in Cowal’s ore reserves since Evolution acquired the op- eration in 2015.

The Dual Leach project will add an additional leaching circuit to the processing plant to target a four to six per cent increase in gold recoveries.

Situated on the banks of the largest inland lake in NSW, Lake Cowal, the mine site has natural beauty not easily found at mines. Hundreds of emus, locally known as bush chooks, roam freely, as well as wallabies, kangaroos, 277 bird species and the dealy tiger and brown snakes.

The environmental sensitivity of the mine site has not been without controversy, but according to Tony the mine operates to very high environmental standards to ensure the least possible impact. Cowal has received ISO14001 certification for mining and ore processing operations and support services for gold and silver production.

Evolution Mining bought the Cowal gold mine from Barrick Gold in 2015 and described it as one of the most attractive gold assets in Australia. Cowal is the biggest of the six mines in the group.

By all accounts the Forbes seniors put in a great effort to do more together during the NSW Seniors Festival with many different events on offer around town.

The theme for the this year’s festival was Let’s Do More Together. Tanya Davies, Minister of Ageing said it was about celebrating our seniors for their energy, experience and unique ability to know what inspires and makes them happy.

The festival kicked off last Friday with more than 100 people enjoying a community barbeque at Jemalong Residential Village. The consensus was “it was a lovely lunch” and the sing along with Paddy Mol- loy and Ray Lassere was “really great”.

Neil Gilmour, organiser of the seniors variety concert in the Forbes Town Hall on Sunday estimated there were over 150 audience members. “They were very receptive to all the performances, including James Janetski, Barbara Bruce, Richard Morgan and Forbes College for Seniors,” said Neil.

According to Sam Rath over 50 people enjoyed morning tea on Monday at Mater Aged Care. There were lucky door prizes, raffles and local soprano, Patricia Maxwell sang, ‘What a wonderful world it would be,’ accompanied by pianist Barbara Bruce. “I sing mainly to encourage resident’s involvement,” said Patricia.

The final event of the festival takes place today from 10am to 12pm at the Forbes Men’s Shed located at the Forbes showgrounds. Pop around to hear more about the exciting plans for Men’s Shed to open up a new premises in Union Street later in the year. President, Norm Haley said they looked forward to tripling the space, increasing their opening hours and the number of members. They currently have 47 members ranging in age from 14 to 95 years.

By Dianne Collie

St Gregory’s College is a boarding and day secondary college in the hills of the Mac- arthur region in Sydney. Founded in the Marist tradition and operating since 1926, the college remains dedicated to providing a holistic education enhancing each student academically, spiritually, socially, culturally and physically.

St Gregory’s offer full time boarding with three junior and two senior boarding hous- es with each boy having his own space and privacy in a home style environment. Boarders come from all over country NSW, ACT and NT. With a focus on academic excellence, the dedicated staff, many of whom live on site, provide guided and supervised tuition and study periods each night.

With a state of the art TAS facility, music facilities, refurbished science labs and new IMAC labs, not to mention the college’s own swimming pool, gymnasium, basketball and tennis courts, cricket and football fields and fully functioning farm, St Gregory’s facilities are of a high standard. A recent addition is the new learning centre and refurbished dining rooms.

The boarding and tuition fees combined are comparatively lower than many other independent boarding schools’ fees in NSW.

St Gregory’s offer a myriad of courses, including agriculture and primary industry, and assists students in choices for future studies. The St Gregory’s College family has a unique spirit with a sense of belonging. The challenge is to impart the qualities that will provide a source of strength to each individual, enabling them to take an active and responsible role in society in the spirit of the gospel as expressed in the college motto: “As you sow, so shall you reap”.

For more information visit: www.stgregs. nsw.edu.au

“Aboriginal kids are asking for their heritage. They want to know why their parents don’t talk to them about it.”

Peter White, founder of Wiradjuri Cultural and Environment Rangers (WCER), said it was time to forget the past and start building the future.

WCER is a non-profit organisation aiming to assist aboriginal youth and their families improve their cultural, social and economic conditions by employing them as rangers.

Youth rangers from 14 to 19 years, and rangers 20 years and older, will assist in feral pest and weed control, identifying and protecting endangered species, manage natural environments and help visitors en- joy national parks. They will also facilitate

cultural training and art groups. “The intention is also to work with job agencies and assist within the juvenile justice areas for our youth,” said Peter.

He also hopes the program will help break down cultural barriers by inviting non-aboriginals to learn about aboriginal culture.

WCER will initially be concentrating on the Parkes/Forbes region. “It is important we put boots on the ground to get things done and achieve goals to gain credibility,” said Peter.

The Council of Elders will be consulted on 10th March and the WCER inaugural meeting will be held on Monday, 13th March.

By Dianne Collie

Nearly 70 barefoot skiers from all over NSW attended a coaching clinic at the Forbes Aquatic Centre and Bundaburrah over three days last week.

The skiers came from Forbes, Parkes, Oberon, Gundagai, Narrandera and Liver- pool.

“The Forbes barefoot coaching sessions are growing and the feedback has been sensational,” said Jim Cronin. “We have al- ready taken bookings for the clinic in 2018.”

The sessions grew from one last year, to two this year, but due to high demand a third had to be added.

The Forbes Phoenix met with some participants last Friday. Toby Cox (10) said he was “feeling really good about attending the coaching clinic”. Toby is a competent water skier but was trying bare foot skiing for the first time, “because my Granddad does it”. Wes Murray (14) likes to barefoot because “it’s fun”. Wes was happy he barefooted

on Thursday using the boom bar and was looking forward to stepping up and taking the rope behind the boat.

Peter and Leanne Gosling travelled all the way from Sydney on Friday morning to bring their son Kye (15) to the clinic. “We are very proud parents,” said Leanne, and when Kye ranked third in the Junior Boys NSW Barefoot Championship last week- end they were over the moon.

There were three coaches at the clinic: Brendon Chattaway, Peter O’Neil and Brendan Paige. “Barefoot skiing is the pin- nacle!” said Brendon. “It is challenging but it is the ultimate freedom when skiing.”

Jim said all three coaches were looking forward to holding the coaching clinics again next year to take participants through their paces in a safe and fun environment.

By Dianne Collie