NSW Government Approves Centennial Coal’s Myuna Expansion
[Click image to enlarge]
[Click image to enlarge]
The state government has approved an expansion of Centennial Coal’s Myuna coal mine, amid concerns about subsidence of the lake bed.
The approval will allow Centennial to expand Myuna and increase production from 1.3 million tonnes of coal a year to 2 million tonnes a year.
The Myuna mine runs mostly under the lake from Coal Point and Myuna Bay to Nords Wharf and Morisset Peninsula.
A NSW Planning Department assessment said subsidence of the lake bed in “deeper areas of Lake Macquarie” would be up to 65 centimetres.
The Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority said in a submission that “at least 15 square kilometers” of the lake bed would be affected.
“This is about 13 percent of the area of Lake Macquarie,” the authority said.
It questioned Centennial’s assertion that the mine’s effect on lake-bed life forms, such as worms, crustaceans and molluscs, would not be significant.
The authority opposed the mine plan, “due to the uncertainty regarding potential adverse environmental effects over a significant portion of the bed of Lake Macquarie”.
The department’s assessment found that the project would “generally result in minimal” environmental effects.
The department placed conditions on Centennial, which it said would ensure potential effects were “suitably mitigated or managed”.
Centennial had committed to assessing the effects of subsidence on the lake bed and the life-forms that live there.
Centennial’s assessment must be done before “secondary extraction” of coal occurred.
This could lead to the company revising its mine plan to minimize effects in “critical areas”, the state assessment said.
The assessment found the project “represents an appropriate continuation of an existing mine”.
It would provide jobs for 210 employees for up to 21 years, $2 million capital investment, coal for electricity production at Eraring Power Station and “royalties and payroll taxes for the state government”.
The Newcastle Herald reported yesterday that Centennial Coal was planning to expand its Newstan mine, in west Lake Macquarie.
Centennial said in a preliminary report it planned to double the capacity of the Newstan coal preparation plant and washery to 8 million tonnes year.
The company report said the mine expansion, called Newstan Lochiel, posed significant risks including subsidence, pollution of air, groundwater and LT Creek, and social effects.
Source: (Jan. 24, 2012) New Castle Herald
To stop by Centennial Coal’s website, CLICK HERE
