Here’s the stories that you – our online readers – clicked on the most in the past 12 months ...

A dam wall at Newcrest‘s Cadia Valley Operations partially collapsed on Friday, March 9, causing the sanitised waste created by the mining process to spill from the mine’s northern and southern tailings dams.

The collapse came less than a day after two small earthquakes struck just five and 10 kilometres away.

Processing work restarted at the mine about three weeks later.

A BLAZE covering more than 1670 hectares on Mount Canobolas started on February 10 and took more than four days to extinguish.

No homes were lost, thanks to the efforts of more than 20 NSW Rural Fire Service ground crews, close to a dozen firefighting aircraft and assistance from State Forest crews and NSW Parks and Wildlife Services.

Over 70 per cent of the mountain was burned, and several residents near the blaze lost fences.

At the same time another significant fire was being fought at Belerada near Gowan, north-east of Orange.

On Saturday, May 19, an explosion at the Manildra flour mill injured a worker and caused extensive damage.

Emergency services responded to a building fire at the Manildra Group-operated site at about 2.30pm, with nearby roads closed as a safety precaution.

VIDEO: Truck driver Glen Johnston’s video ...

All staff were ordered to evacuate and accounted for, but according to Canobolas Zone Rural Fire Service duty officer Lachlan Allan one person had been struck by debris.

The individual was treated for minor injuries by ambulance crews at the scene.

One of Orange’s most iconic watering holes, Kelly’s Rugby Hotel, closed at the end of trade on Sunday, October 28.

The Lords Place pub, which the Kelly family has run since 1922, was sold, and the new owners – the O’Hara Group – did not plan on continuing to run the hotel or Mary Jane’s restaurant.

Only the drive-through bottle shop remained in operation.

Publican Bill Kelly said he understood the pub’s 11 poker machines would be moved to the Ophir Hotel at Glenroi, which the O’Hara Group also runs.

IN July it was announced the developers of the old Myer site in Summer Street had scrapped plans to have a major store in the complex.

Department store Harris Scarfe was touted to become the major retailer on the site but the space for a major store has been replaced by a food court in a revised development application submitted to Orange City Council.

The previous plan had one major retail space, one mini-major site, 15 retail tenancies and two kiosks.

The updated plan featured one mini-major site, 20 retail tenancies, six food court shops and five kiosks.