PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner Whitehaven Coal has welcomed a ruling by the Queensland Court of Appeal to dismiss an appeal against the grant of a mining licence for the Stage 3 operation at the New Acland coal project.
Greens group Oakey Coal Action Alliance had appealed a September decision in which the Supreme Court set aside a ruling from the Land Court, which refused to grant a mining lease application for the Stage 3 project.
New Hope on Thursday said that with the Appeals Court ruling now given, there were no further barriers to the Queensland government giving final approvals for the Stage 3 project.
The miner has called on the Queensland government to immediately grant the required mining lease and associated water licence, and approval for the continued use of the Jondaryan load-out facility.
New Hope subsidiary New Acland Coal currently operates the existing New Acland mine as a 4.8-million-tonne-a-year opencut coal mine, however, the mine’s reserves are depleted. The Stage 3 expansion project will increase the mine’s yearly output to 7.5-million tonnes and will extend the operation’s life by some 12 years beyond the current end-date of mid-2020.