ANGLO American Metallurgical Coal chief Seamus French has slammed the New South Wales Government’s decision to reject a proposal to expand the Drayton South coal mine in the state’s Hunter Valley.
Initiating an application in 2011, Anglo American sought approval to expand its existing Drayton open cut coal mine 13km south west of Muswellbrook. However, the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) rejected the application on 17 October 2014, citing environmental impacts on two nearby equine stud farms as cause to refuse the project.
With coal deposits at the existing asset forecast to be mined-out by 2017, Anglo American coal CEO and former AREEA board member Seamus French slammed the decision as a ‘shattering blow to the local community, threatening the continuation of mining in the state of NSW’.
“The PAC’s decision will have serious detrimental implications for the Hunter Valley and for NSW,” he said.
“It is devastating for our employees, it is devastating for our suppliers, it is devastating for the local community and it is devastating for the people of NSW who would have benefited from the annual $35 million in State Government Royalties from the project.
“Unemployment in the Hunter Valley is 8%. To reject a project which would continue to provide 500 full-time jobs for a period of 20 years is incomprehensible. For local families, local suppliers and local communities to suffer for the sake of two horse studs, particularly given we could easily coexist, is unfathomable.”
In its determination report for the Drayton South Coal Project, the PAC said the mine expansion would potentially disrupt operations at the nearby Coolmore and Darley equine studs.
“The equine industry in the region is identified as a critical industry cluster (CIC),” the report stated.
“If [Coolmore and Darley stud farms] decide to relocate because of perceived or actual mining impacts on their operations, it would impact on the ‘clean green’ image and reputation of the region.
“Without this status, it is unlikely a similar calibre thoroughbred industry operator would replace those lost given the importance the industry has placed on the need to have a pristine environment for the breeding and care of thoroughbred horses and the perception of the investors.”
Additionally, the report said the economic benefits of the Drayton South expansion project did not outweigh the ‘potential demise of the equine industry in the area with flow-on impacts on the viticulture tourism industries’.
In the days that followed the decision, Mr French said the local coal industry felt the NSW Government had ‘caved into threats from the horse studs’. Given he believes the government’s own experts said the stud farms would not be impacted by the coal mine expansion, the Anglo coal boss called on the state to save the 500 jobs under threat if the Drayton South project remains off the table.
“All expert advice, including the government’s own Department of Planning and Environment report recommending the retracted mine plan be approved in the public interest, was ignored throughout the eight-week assessment,” Mr French said.
“After five years working on this project, more than $60 million spent on environmental modelling and technical reports and a further 10 months of working with experts to demonstrate our ability to coexist and adhere to the most stringent conditions in the world have been overruled by three independents. We don’t accept this process and don’t believe it protects the interests of local people or the State of NSW.
“It is up to the government to make this wrong decision right. The government has the ability to save these 500 jobs and protect these 500 families. The company can do no more, Drayton is running out of coal and we have physically run out of options to secure continuity of employment.”
Anglo American is analysing the report in detail and considering its options for protecting its Drayton workforce.
