Coal & Allied to consult community over application on mining plans

Coal & Allied Industries Limited has issued a public notice this week of its application for project approval of a proposed extension of its Warkworth Mine following an initial series of community consultations.

The project would cost $600 million over 21 years and create an estimated 150 additional full time equivalent jobs on average up to the current consent period of 2021, plus an additional 950 full time equivalent jobs in the community from 2022 to 2031.

Coal & Allied is applying to increase the area of approved mining within its existing leases of its Mount Thorley Warkworth operation to add a further 21 years of operation to the Warkworth Mine.

Mount Thorley Warkworth General Manager Operations, Cam Halfpenny, says further community consultation sessions will be held next week to discuss the proposal.

"We advised the community very early into the start of our environmental assessment studies and sought their input into the process," Mr Halfpenny said.

"We ran our first round of community information sessions in August with our near neighbours and local landholders, and committed to come back in December as the results from these studies became available.

"This week we released a notice of application for project approval under Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) to extend Warkworth Mine, so next week we will talk about this new step at further information sessions, in what are a regular programme of community information sessions to keep our local communities informed about our work in the region.

"We want to hear from the community about ideas on potential initiatives that we could incorporate into the Environmental Assessment Report to help minimise any potential environmental, cultural or social impacts from the proposed extension, to ensure that we can make a significant contribution to present and future generations."

The face to face sessions, part of an ongoing consultation programme, will be in addition to Coal & Allied's existing contact with the Upper Hunter community through its shopfronts, freecall information line and website.

Next week's sessions will be in Bulga on Thursday 10 December, in Maison Dieu on Friday 11 December, and at both Warkworth and Jerrys Plains on Saturday 12 December.

Find out more details about the three community information sessions.

Media release - Coal & Allied to consult community over application on mining plans [PDF: 23 KB]