Coal & Allied has welcomed the New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission’s approval of a vital Development Consent modification for the Mount Thorley Warkworth coal mine. This is an interim measure to maintain production and employment as close as possible to existing levels for around two years, following the Land and Environment Court’s unprecedented decision in April 2013 to overturn Government approvals to extend the mine. Rio Tinto Coal Australia managing director Chris Salisbury said “This approval provides a short-term lifeline for Mount Thorley Warkworth mine and its more than 1,300 workers.
“The Planning Assessment Commission is an independent body that has made its determination following a rigorous assessment of a modification which will have minimal impacts, through a process that included several opportunities for public comment.
“I would like to thank the close to 1,000 people who lodged submissions supporting our application. The vast majority are directly affected by this situation and include employees, their family members and other businesses who supply the mine.”
Last year’s Land and Environment Court decision to overturn the former approval had an immediate impact on operations at Mount Thorley Warkworth, effectively reducing the width of the main mine pit by a third.
“We’ve now been granted this short-term approval to resume operating as normal, but the disruption we’ve already experienced means coal production will fall by around a million tonnes this year and cost close to $100 million,” said Salisbury. “Any further loss of production at a time when Australian coal mines are battling to remain internationally competitive would place the future of Mount Thorley Warkworth and the jobs of 1,300 people at risk.
“It is now absolutely critical that we gain a longer-term approval without delay, that allows us to maintain production levels at Mount Thorley Warkworth beyond 2015. We will be working through our options as a matter of urgency.
“We’ve spent more than four years so far trying to secure the long-term future for this mine, which has been part of the Singleton community for more than three decades. All of the necessary Government approvals were granted based on rigorous assessments and determinations by experts in the relevant fields, only to have them overturned by a single judge in the Land and Environment Court.”
An outcome is yet be handed down from Coal & Allied’s appeal in the NSW Supreme Court, which is being supported by a cross appeal by the NSW Planning Minister, against the Land and Environment Court’s decision.
“We lodged this appeal to do everything we could to protect production and jobs, even though there was only a very limited chance that it would result in the approval being reinstated,” said Salisbury. “The appeal was heard on a relatively narrow scope confined to points of law. This means no further consideration can be given to the merit of the judgement made by the NSW Land and Environment Court, which we believe contained significant errors.”
Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto Coal Australia is of the company’s Hail Creek mine.