PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Environmental group Lock The Gate Alliance has called on federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt to reject the development of the proposed Watermark mine, in New South Wales, saying the project would be environmentally damaging.

Hunt would take 40 days to decide on the fate of the proposed Watermark mine, being developed by China’s Shenhua Australia.

The opencut project was expected to produce about 10-million tonnes a year run-of-mine coal, over a 30-year mine life. The coal would then be transported to the Port of Newcastle, for export.

While the New South Wales state government approved the project development in February this year, following an investigation by the Planning Assessment Commission, Hunt has vacillated on a decision, and instead asked for an analysis from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee (IESC).

At the end of April, the IESC released its advice, telling Hunt that there remained some “information gaps” in terms of groundwater monitoring, which would need to be addressed. The review also concluded that additional monitoring and finer-scale groundwater modelling should be conducted as mining at the site started.

However, the report also noted that the project’s groundwater modelling was sufficient to assess potential impacts of the mining activity on the groundwater.

Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Georgina Woods said on Friday that Hunt had enough information to knock back this “damaging” coal mine.

“Its impacts on nationally threatened woodlands and on the water resources of one of this state’s most important agricultural areas are sufficient in scale and intensity to reject the mine.

"What coal companies and government bodies reassure us beforehand will be minor impact often turns out far worse, after all the scrutiny is over. That is not acceptable on the Liverpool Plains.”

Shenhua has maintained that the most appropriate mine plan for the Watermark project had been chosen, pointing out that seven alternatives had been considered.

Hunt was expected to make a decision on the mine by July 9.