Members of the Stradbroke Island Management Organisation (SIMO) and the Wildlife Preservation Society (WPS) have written to the State Government about the potentially harmful effects of a naturally occurring phosphate mineral, monazite.

Island residents fear

the mineral might be

contaminating the water supply of Redland City on the mainland, which comes from North Stradbroke.

Queensland’s acting chief health officer, Linda Selvey, has dismissed the concern, saying the mineral sand was part of Stradbroke Island’s natural environment, so “should not pose any addition al risk to the water supply”.

Sand is processed on the island to retrieve minerals that are sent to Pinkenba, near Brisbane Airport, for further processing.

The monazite is removed, then trucked back to the island on

public barges in a

concentrated form to be used as landfill.

Dr Selvey said tests by her department would determine whether the levels of radioactive materials were acceptable.

On Friday, Queensland Health began a site

inspection, which was expected to take several days. Results were due in a few weeks, she said.

WPS spokesman Simon Baltais said a copy of a 1995 State Government document, obtained through a freedom of information request, showed the island's monazite had to be buried deeply underground because of its radioactivity levels.

The document, seen by The Sun-Herald, said “progressive rehabilitation” at the island’s Bayside Mine was undertaken at “areas of previously relatively high monazite concentration giving above-limit radioactivity”.

Mr Baltais said drums of monazite in the past had “radioactive” stickers on them but residents had not seen drums or stickers for many years.

He had written to the Government in April but had received no reply.

Dr Selvey said the movement of monazite had to comply with the code of practice for safe transport of radioactive materials.

SIMO president Jackie Cooper said she wrote last month to State Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara outlining the group’s concerns.

However, the letter had been forwarded to Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson.

“North Stradbroke Island has a large groundwater aquifer,”her letter said. “Could burying concentrated monazite . . . have a potential to pollute the groundwater?

“Dust and spill from these trucks are typically observed.

“We wish to know the risk this radioactive material poses both to barge workers and drivers who habitually transport it and also to the general public during the 50-minute crossing.”

Ms Cooper asked what the radiation levels were and whether those levels posed health risks.

“Trucks containing monazite drive through residential areas of Dunwich [on the island],” she said.

Dr Selvey said Queensland Health would rectify any breaches of the code found during the site inspection.

She said the monazite dust samples off trucks and spillage from roads would be tested for radioactivity.

“Mineral sands can

contain very low levels of monazite but the levels of radiation are generally low and therefore do not pose a health risk,” she said.

She did not say when the island was last checked for safety.

However, she said Queensland Health’s radiation health unit “carries out inspections and testing of sites, and of companies licensed to transport radioactive substances,

as part of a routine radiation safety monitoring

program or in response to concerns raised by the public”.

Source: The Sun-Herald