PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Rio Tinto subsidiary Coal & Allied on Tuesday warned that pressure was mounting at its Mount Thorley Warkworth mine, despite the coal miner being granted leave to expedite its appeal against the New South Wales Land and Environment Court’s decision to overturn the 2012 development consent.

The coal miner has previously warned that some 1 300 jobs could be in jeopardy if the Warkworth expansion project, which would see the mine operate until 2033, as opposed to the current expiration date of 2021, did not proceed.

Coal & Allied has now been granted leave to expedite the Land and Environment Court’s decision, with the appeal hearing scheduled from July 30 to August 1.

However acting MD Darren Yeates said on Tuesday that, while the decision to fast-track the appeal hearing was welcome, the reality is the pressure on Mount Thorley Warkworth mine was increasing with every passing day.

“To avoid significant job losses for our workforce of 1 300 people, we need access to this land right now so we can start preparing for mining. Even with this accelerated appeal timeframe, it will be extremely difficult to maintain production levels at the mine next year, which will impact on the viability of the operation.”

Yeates noted that Coal & Allied was conducting a review of its future options at Mount Thorley Warkworth and looking for ways to limit job losses where possible.

Meanwhile, he warned that the court’s decision to overturn the development consent had far wider implications than just the Mount Thorley Warkworth mine, and that it threatened to cripple the mining industry in New South Wales.

“We'd gone through the full planning process over several years and secured approval from all the necessary state and Commonwealth regulators. Suddenly, at the end of all of this, for the first time ever, a New South Wales court has overturned a major project approval to extend an existing opencut mining operation.

“So we now have a new hurdle suddenly added in at the very end of the approvals project – it sends all the wrong signals to any company looking to invest in New South Wales.”