The Shenhua Watermark Coal Project, south of Gunnedah, is one step closer to reality with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment recommending its approval to the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC).
The approval, subject to strict environmental conditions and stringent monitoring, was announced by the Department yesterday.
If given final approval, the project is expected to employ around 400 people and inject more than $1.5 billion into the State’s economy.
The PAC’s first review of the project in September found that it could be approved without significant impacts to the agricultural productivity of the Liverpool Plains.
A spokesperson for the Department said that in response to the PAC’s review the company conducted more extensive groundwater modelling, which was reviewed by an independent water expert.
“A key consideration in the Department’s assessment was the value of the Liverpool Plain – some of the most fertile and productive land in NSW,” a spokesperson said.
“The project is on higher ground above the black soil plains and extensive groundwater modelling has confirmed there would not be any significant impacts on aquifers or agricultural production.”
Shenhua Watermark, a company owned by the Chinese government, plans to extract up to 268 million tonnes of coal from the open-cut project ear-marked for Breeza, south of Gunnedah.
Shenhua Watermark’s project manager Paul Jackson said it has been “a long journey” for the company, which has spent an estimated $200 million buying up farmland surrounding the proposed mine site.
“We have refined the project after early feedback from regulators; however, over the last four years the fundamentals of the project have remained the same,” he said.
“The project plan and the proposed operating conditions being recommended by the Department of Planning and Environment will ensure this mine operates to the highest environmental standards and will safeguard the future of the region’s agricultural industries.”
Add Comment