Argent Minerals is an active member of the local community at Kempfield and Trunkey Creek. Argent supports local events such as the Trunkey Creek and Neville annual shows.
Argent Minerals policy is to hire locals where possible, and this has worked well for everybody. Reduced travel times for workers means more time for their families after hours and a greatly reduced risk of road accidents to and from work. The local community is keen for the Kempfield mine to start operations as it will create significant employment opportunities.
Argent Minerals sponsored the participation of local public schools in the Indigenous Youth Art Program. In some areas a high rate of depression amongst indigenous people has led to suicide. This program was designed to provide personal encouragement in the value of self worth to children and their parents, through learning to be creative in arts and writing. The following thank you note from the school principal, Sharyn Cogdell, puts the wonderful impact of the event in perspective:
Trunkey Creek School ended up winning the NSW-based program arts competition, resulting in one of the school captains and their family being flown to Melbourne to attend the awards ceremony.
“This is a short email to thank you both for the wonderful opportunity Argent Minerals has provided for the students of Trunkey Creek, Carcoar and Neville Public Schools through the Indigenous Youth Art Program. Both Charlotte Calder, the local author, and Lesley Vamos, a Sydney-based children’s book illustrator, are very excited about visiting our school to share their knowledge, skills and experiences with the forty students and Pre-Schoolers who will be present on the day.
“Please find the flyer attached that will be sent out to the schools and our local community advertising our Book Week celebrations on Wednesday 22nd August. We would be honoured if one or both of you could attend the day to witness, first hand, the students’ responses to this opportunity. Being small schools, we find it very difficult to attract children’s authors and illustrators to present to the students as their costs are often out of our reach with such small cohorts. With your generous sponsorship, our students will experience the works of well-known and talented people and participate in writing and drawing workshops”.
The Argent Kempfield site manager is an active volunteer of the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS). During the savage bush fires of early 2014, Argent was pleased to offer the use of its Kempfield property as a staging area for the RFS, from which the Hell’s Hole fire adjacent the the Copperhannia Nature Reserve was successfully fought and contained.
