PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The federal government has approved coal miner New Hope’s A$900-million New Acland Stage 3 continuation project.

The New Acland Stage 3 project will expand the mine’s yearly output from 4.8-million tonnes to 7.5-million tonnes and will extend the operation’s life beyond the current end-date of 2017/18.

The expanded operation will see a further 260 people employed at the mine, and could inject some A$12-billion in local, state and federal revenues over the life of the project.

The federal environmental nod takes the project approval process one step closer to completion. However, Queensland still has to grant an environmental authority, a mining lease and an associated water licence before the company can make a final investment decision.

New Hope said on Friday that it expected that the application for the environmental authority and the mining lease to be finalised by April.

New Hope last year warned that the expansion of the Acland mine was in jeopardy following the passing of new environmental legislation, which could stall the expansion by as much as two years as the company would have to apply for an associated water licence, which would require a mining lease approval and baseline assessment.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) on Friday welcomed the federal government approval for the New Acland Stage 3 continuation project, with CEO Ian Macfarlane describing the decision as a “relief” after years of delays.

“The federal government has stepped up today to help create up to 260 construction jobs and ongoing employment of up to 435 jobs, and, indirectly, 2 300 [jobs], worth about A$12-billion in economic benefits over the life of the project,” Macfarlane said.

“This project has been scrutinised by both state and federal governments, and has held up under the scrutiny of experts to meet some of the highest environmental standards in the world.

“We now call on the state government to do its part to help New Hope gain the remaining critical approvals before the current resource runs out.”