JUST 17 days before Christmas, Coal and Allied’s Bengalla mine, which looms over the Upper Hunter township of Muswellbrook, put up a proposal to accelerate its mining operations.
Public submissions are welcome.
There’s just one problem: the window for action was only from December 8 to December 24.
It’s a situation that has infuriated Muswellbrook mayor, Martin Rush.
“It went on exhibition despite an undertaking by Bengalla to us that it would not happen before Christmas – why would they want to do this in the lead up to Christmas? I think it’s cruel, frankly,” Councillor Rush said.
There is plentiful evidence of similar strategies to get the green light for more mines, more mining, across NSW – so it’s not hard to see why people are upset.
Nowhere is the push to expand mining more pronounced than in the Upper Hunter, where residents are bewildered and overwhelmed by the sheer scale and number of new mine proposals and plans for established mines to expand.
It’s the way that “deals are done” that causes angst – the controversial Doyle’s Creek project was announced on December 24, 2008 – although the application for the exploration licence wasn’t advertised until about a fortnight later.
Last month Bengalla announced a $141 million expansion, increasing capacity from 7.8 million tonnes to 9.3 million tonnes, with a second stage planned to increase production to 10.7 million tonnes, as more than $1.5 billion is spent resolving a bottleneck at the Port of Newcastle to enable more coal to be exported.
Export capacity will be increased to 53 million tonnes a year with the $458 million Kooragang Island expansion and the $1.1 billion Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group export terminal, a private user facility specifically for the Hunter Valley coal chain.
The Newcastle port development prompted Coal and Allied to go ahead with its Mt Pleasant Greenfield open cut mine and the NSW Government obligingly gave it the green light last Monday. It will produce 10.5 million tonnes of coal.
Mt Pleasant will proceed despite the fact the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water stated in a formal submission to the Department of Planning that it could not support the proposal and gave detailed reasons why.
There’s growing unease shared by farmers, environmentalists, Thoroughbred breeders, winemakers, tourism operators, and families who live under the shadow of mines, and a glance at the facts indicates why there is rising anxiety.
Apart from existing operations, in NSW there are 13 major projects committed at a cost of $6.9 billion, including Xstrata’s Blakefield South coal mine, which cost $330 million and will replace the Beltana mine, north of Broke, Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri project, Rio Tinto’s Northparkes copper development, coal expansion at Boggabri, Mt Arthur in Muswellbrook, Ulan West near Mudgee, Wilpinjong near Gulgong, Mangoola near Denman, plus the Spur Hill, Ferndale and Yarrawa proposals near Denman – and on the list goes.
On the Liverpool Plains, Shenhua has spent a reported $130 million snaring more than 12,000 hectares of farmland.
This is not taking into account the substantial coal seam gas exploration taking place across the Gunnedah Basin, and the major gas pipelines being built.
The Government touts the number of jobs this growth in the resources sector will create and there is no doubt that mining is a significant economic impetus in many regional towns.
Peak bodies such as the NSW Farmers Association are at pains to emphasise they are not against mining and don’t want an “us or them” stoush with the NSW Minerals Council – but they do want legislative and policy reform to achieve a more balanced approach that acknowledges the worth of agriculture and properly addresses valid fears about issues such as protecting water resources.
Mid Western Regional Council manager, Warwick Bennett, said the Mudgee region urgently needed a balanced plan with four mines undergoing major expansion.
“Community consultation only happens after exploration licences have been granted, and that’s far too late,” he said, adding that a strategic plan should include Lithgow, Wellington and Warrumbungle as well as the Mid Western Regional Council area.
At Mudgee the latest concern is the Government’s Cobbora mine, near Dunedoo, and its potential impact on the Cudgegong River, roads and neighbouring land.
The theme across the State is the same.
A fight is brewing at Denman after the government granted an exploration licence to Monaro (now the Australian-American Mining Corporation) over Spur Hill, a 34-square-kilometre parcel 10 kilometres east of Denman.
About 80 people got together at a local hall earlier this month – but they feel powerless.
“We’re up to our eyeballs in mining,” Upper Hunter MP, George Souris, summed up.
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