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Renewed hope for New Hope

Published by , Assistant Editor
Global Mining Review,


Australian coal miner New Hope Corp. (New Hope) has received a positive recommendation from the Queensland Land Court regarding its Stage 3 expansion of its New Acland coal mine.

The Queensland Land Court has conditionally agreed to recommend that New Hope should be granted a mining lease and an environmental authority amendment subject to specified conditions for its opencast coal mine in the Darling Downs region of southern Queensland.

In May last year, the Queensland Land Court decided not to support the grant of a mining lease and environmental authority for the company’s Stage 3 expansion. The Court raised concerns about the impact of the proposed mine expansion on the region’s groundwater.

 

This led the Department of Environment and Science to refuse New Hope’s application for an environmental authority amendment.

In May this year, New Hope took the same expansion proposal to the Supreme Court, which referred the issue back to the Land Court after setting aside its initial decision following its discovery that grounds for a review of the Land Court decision had been established in the areas of groundwater, noise and intergenerational equity.

Yesterday, New Hope announced to its shareholders that the new recommendation was a positive step for the approval of the project. However, the coal miner is aware that there are still a number of steps that need to be achieved in order to obtain final project approval.

CEO of Queensland Resources Council (QRC) Ian Macfarlane praised the positive decision by the Land Court, commenting: “The New Hope mine is one of the region’s most significant employers and one of the most important economic contributors for the Darling Downs.

"This is new hope for New Hope and the 3000 workers who rely on the Acland coal mine for their living either directly or indirectly.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/09112018/renewed-hope-for-new-hope/

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