Coal & Allied wins 2009 Environmental Sustainability Award

Hunter Valley mining company Coal & Allied says it is greatly encouraged by its win in the Hunter Business Chamber's 2009 "Environmental Sustainability Award".

The company was announced the winner on Friday night at the Hunter Business Chamber's 2009 Awards presentation.

General Manager External Relations, Fiona Nicholls, says Coal & Allied is one of the Hunter Valley's largest land holders and is firmly focussed on environmental sustainability.

"Coal & Allied manages three open cut coal mines in the Hunter Valley, and we are actively involved in a range of initiatives at each of our mine sites to improve our sustainability and improve our environmental stewardship," Ms Nicholls said.

"Taking a sustainable approach to the way we do business is very important to Coal & Allied.

"We take great pride in this award win, and are encouraged by the fact that it puts a public spotlight on the ways that we are proactively managing our impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, water and land use, and amenity impacts on local communities."

Ms Nicholls said initiatives that the company was judged on included:

A coal seam methane trial at the Mount Thorley Warkworth operation, which is assessing the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions
An energy and greenhouse gas emission management programme across its three mine sites, which helped Coal & Allied reduce emissions of 18,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2007, and a further 38,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in 2008
Efforts to reduce freshwater use at its operations. In 2008 Coal & Allied aimed to use 43 litres of freshwater per tonne of product, however it's actual use was much less at 25 litres of freshwater used per tonne of product, while one mine site - Hunter Valley Operations - did not draw any water from the Hunter River in 2008, and
An 80 hectare commercial forestry trial on land next to the Hunter Valley Operations site, in which Coal & Allied is partnering with Forests NSW. About 80,000 eucalyptus seedlings have been planted as part of the trial which, if successful, will provide a range of environmental benefits, such as the opportunity to establish a forestry industry when mining ceases.

"Some people call these types of activities "sustainable development", but at Coal & Allied we call it 'the way we work'," Ms Nicholls said.

"Each of our operations have found simple innovations or ways of doing things that make a difference and ensure we actively demonstrate sustainable development every day.

"When planning we think about the economic aspects, the environmental aspects and social aspects of what we are about to do to determine the best way forward. Environmental sustainability makes good business sense, as well as doing the right thing as a corporate citizen.

"We do not take our role as part of the Hunter Valley community for granted, and so we also engage our employees and local communities in a range of community-focused environmentally sustainable activities."

Media enquiries:
Alison Smith 0438 787 038

Media Release - Coal & Allied wins 2009 Environmental Sustainability Award [PDF: 34 KB]