Approval for huge coal mine increases land-use tensions in NSW
Approval for one of the largest open-cut mines in the world has increased tensions over land use between miners and rural communities in New South Wales. In October this year the New South Wales Planning and Assessment Commission approved Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Project north of Boggabri in the Gunnedah Basin.
The approved mine will include an expansion into the Leard State Forest, and clear over 2000 hectares of vegetation, including critically endangered box gum woodland. The mine is yet to be ok’d by the Federal Government, but if given the go ahead the mine will produce up to 13 million tonnes of coal a year, for the next three decades. Environmentalists and the local community are concerned about the cumulative impacts of the mine and how it will affect the region.