Mining giant Rio Tinto has lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court against a decision that is blocking it from expanding the Warkworth mine in the Hunter Valley.
Last week the NSW Land and Environment Court overturned State Government approval for the Coal and Allied project.
The court cited adverse environment and social concerns on the community as reasons behind the decision.
But Coal & Allied acting managing director Darren Yeates said the court’s decision to overturn a three-and-a-half-year approval process including state, independent and Commonwealth support, was without precedent.
“This appeal will seek to overturn a decision that will hurt not just Mount Thorley Warkworth mine and our employees, but also the mining industry across New South Wales and the countless other businesses who rely on it.”
“Mount Thorley Warkworth mine has been operating for 30 years and this rejection threatens the jobs of the 1300 employees who rely on its future.”
The news hasn’t been well received by the Bulga residents who fought against the expansion.
Lock The Gate’s regional coordinator for the Hunter, Steve Phillips, said that Rio Tinto was using “bully-boy tactics against the Bulga community.”
“Rio Tinto are clearly seeking to downplay the scale of the Warkworth Extension project”, Phillips said. “This project is not merely a ‘continuation of operations’ of the Warkworth mine. The proposal is for an eighteen million tonne per annum, 1200 hectare open cut coal mine in an area currently occupied by farmland and a critically endangered woodland ecosystem. The mine would encroach on the village of Bulga, with much of the town within the mine’s compulsory acquisition zone.”
