Sunday, November 10, 2024

'Fibrous Materials' and Chalice Mining


Interview: a poem

 

The local newspaper addresses

a series of questions to Chalice

about NOA (naturally occurring

asbestos) in ‘their’ Gonneville

Deposit (the roots of Julimar

Forest and environs). Answers

fire back without definition,

talking of ‘fibrous materials’

and management per ‘industry

best practice'. You can see

where this is going, catch

its drift, and suffer over time

accordingly. Tracy’s father

had asbestosis when he

passed away. Our lives have

been haunted by asbestos

contamination. And now

the miners talk of spraying

water and having barriers

and air quality testing

as they disturb the spirit

of earth. They talk of such

things being 'typically seen'

at nickel mines in WA.

The local newspaper’s

questions seek to pin

the miner down, and though

each answer is evasive,

they confirm as well. ‘Local’

is disposable once profits

and ore are dispersed

around the globe. When

litigation comes decades

later, dynasties will have

risen and fallen and every

battery will have lost its spark.

 

 

            John Kinsella 

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