THE proposed Wallarah 2 coal mine at Bushells Ridge is arguably the most “rigorously assessed” mining project in Australia’s history.
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Chief executive of the NSW Minerals Council, Stephen Galilee, made the observation after a site inspection and meeting with the mine’s proponents, Wyong Coal, on Wednesday.
The coal mine was approved by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission (now the Independent Planning Commission), in January.
Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg is due to make a final determination on the project in September.
Mr Galilee said Wallarah 2 had been in the assessment process “in one form or another” for at least 15 years.
Community and political opposition to the mine in that time – including concerns about the potential threat posed by the mine to the Central Coast’s water supply – meant that Wallarah 2 had attracted intense “public and media attention”, he said.
That attention had been accompanied by an unprecedented scientific deep dive into the mining proposal.
And that scrutiny was reflected in the “195 stringent conditions of consent” Wyong Coal said the IPC attached to the mine’s approval.
“This project is probably one of the most rigorously assessed projects in the mining sector – certainly the coal mining sector in NSW and across the country – ever,” Mr Galilee said.
“What ends up coming out of a process like this is a very high quality project which if, and when, it is approved, is going to operate with minimal impacts.”
Importantly, he said, the project had “cleared the hurdles” regarding questions about the mine’s potential impacts on the region’s water.
“While people may have those concerns, they should be reassured that almost every available water expert that could possibly have had a look at it, and provide a judgement, had done so,” Mr Galilee said.
The $800 million coal mine has been a hard sell locally for Wyong Coal.
Wallarah 2 has been opposed by the former Wyong Shire Council and now Central Coast Council; the state member for Wyong, David Harris (Labor); the federal member for Dobell, Emma McBride (Labor); as well as community groups such as the Australian Coal Alliance.
Wyong Coal maintains, however, that the project has the support of plenty of locals – many of whom contacted the company to congratulate it on the IPC approval.
“There are going to be some people who are never going to accept the scientific assessment if it’s contrary to what they believe is the case,” Mr Galilee said.
“We can really just go on the advice of the experts.
“But people should be reassured that the level of scrutiny that has been applied to this project is significant. The independent scientific rigour that’s been applied by the state government, and is being applied by the federal government, is very high.”
Mr Galilee said Wyong Coal had designed a modern coal mining operation that would have minimal adverse impacts.
“From what I’ve seen today, I doubt many people will even know a mine is there,” he said.
The mine would be underground (not open cut), its surface operations had been “cleverly located”, and the mining zones that would be subject to subsidence were in locations that had been declared mine subsidence areas for some time, he said.
The proposed mine’s proximity to the rail network and port of Newcastle, coupled with the quality of its thermal coal, and demand for the product from South East Asian markets all pointed to a viable future for Wallarah 2, Mr Galilee said.
“We are enjoying, as an industry, some of the best business conditions that we’ve seen in living memory.”
But even when the global coal market was in decline, mines such as Wallarah 2 would be well placed to ride out the storm, he said.
That’s because the costs of getting the mine’s coal to port were low.
“When you’ve got a mine like this, at the lower end of the costs scale, it can sustain itself, and sustain continuous production, through the ups and downs of the price cycle.”
Mr Galilee said the Wallarah 2 mine also had the potential to deliver a serious boost to the local economy.
Wyong Coal previously stated that more than 1000 jobs could be created during construction of the mine, while 300 would be employed during the mine’s operation.
“To have a project that is going to generate a signficant number of additional jobs in the region is potentially an enormous economic benefit,” he said.
“I’m very hopeful and optimistic that [Wallarah 2] will get its final approval shortly.”