Authorities endorsed additional changes to a major mining extension.
The New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment recently recommended further amendments to Idemitsu Australia’s Boggabri Coal Mine Modification 8 Project.
The project now involves:
- increasing the maximum mine depth to extract from 380 metre deep coal seams
- using electric shovels, trucks and excavators to extract an additional 28.1 million tonnes of run of mine coal
- extending the mine life by three years to 2036
- increasing the final landform height by up to 5 metres to include micro relief features
- changes to the final landform
- removing conditions that limit mining fleet noise
- increasing the number of employees to an initial 740 full-time equivalent (FTE) between 2023 and 2035, with a peak of 876 FTE.
“The modification would provide access to deeper coal seams within the already approved mine disturbance footprint, providing a reasonable balance between recovering a high-quality coal resource of state significance and minimising the potential environmental and social impacts of mining,” the department said in its state significant development modification assessment.
“There would be an increase in the peak workforce of around 169 personnel compared to the existing operational workforce … [and] the department considers that the benefits of the modification outweigh its residual costs and that the modification be approved.”
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