PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal from an antimining group to have the environmental approval of the $10-billion Alpha coal project overturned.
The proposed Alpha project, in Queensland, has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 1.8-billion tonnes with some 1.2-billion tonnes of reserves. The opencut operation was expected to produce about 32-million tonnes a year over a 30-year mine life.
The project was granted environmental authority in 2014, clearing the path for developer GVK Hancock to focus on construction. However, lobby group Coast and County had challenged plans to build the mine.
“We are pleased the court has clearly ruled that our project has continued to follow and comply with all regulatory and legal processes,” GVK Hancock spokesperson Josh Euler said on Friday.
“This is a great day for Queensland as we can now get on with taking the next steps towards creating thousands of jobs for the region and the state.”
Euler noted that the miner’s next steps would be to execute coal offtake agreements with customers and to finalise all financing arrangements in preparation for the start of construction.
In 2011, some 125 000 t of coal were extracted from a test pit at the Alpha coal project and sent for test burns in Asia, which verified the coal quality.