Australian coal mine given go ahead for expansion

Donaldson Coal received permission to extract an additional 10 Mt (11 million st) of coal from its underground mine in Hunter, Australia.

The company applied for the permit to modify the mine in 2007 and will use intensive mining methods to get to the coal at its Able Mine near Maitland..

The company says it has found that a greater and more efficient resource yield can be achieved using long wall and short wall mining and pillar extraction in certain areas of the mine, ABC Online reported.

Using these methods an extra 10 Mt (11 million st) of coal could be extracted, increasing the yearly output from 4.5 Mt (4.9 million st) to 6.1 Mt (6.7 million st) and extending the life of the mine by two years.

The main concerns raised during the submission process were subsidence impacts to local cliffs, watercourses and nearby homes and infrastructure.

In approving the modification the Department of Planning said the impacts would be minor and the benefits significantly outweigh any potential environmental costs.

The Department says the modification will create 48 new jobs and $75 million in royalty contributions to the state.