Australia's New Hope Resubmits Environmental Impact Statement for New Acland Coal Mine Stage III Expansion

Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--Sinclair Knight Merz Pty Limited (SKM) (Brisbane, Queensland) is helping New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX:NHC) (Brisbane) obtain the environmental and mining lease approval for the New Acland Coal Mine Stage III expansion. New Hope resubmitted its environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project in March. The new EIS is being assessed by the state and federal governments. New Hope expects to obtain the environmental and mining lease approval in 2015, and plans to commence project construction in the same year.

The New Acland Coal Mine and its processing plant are 21 miles (35 kilometers) northwest of Toowoomba. In response to concerns raised by the Queensland government regarding the potential environmental impact of the project, New Hope has made significant changes to the original proposal by scaling back the project's scope. New Hope proposes to reduce the expansion capacity from an annual production rate of 10 million metric tons of thermal coal to 7.5 million metric tons.

Furthermore, the required works for the expansion project are at the existing open pit coal mine: the expansion of the mining operations to the southwest, with two new open pits (the Manning Vale deposit and the Willaroo deposit), and an upgrade of the existing coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP). A new CHPP 3, with the capacity of 750 tons per hour, would increase the annual processing capacity from 9.6 million metric tons to 15 million metric tons.

The existing processing capacity of the CHPP 1 is 740 tons per hour and 540 tons per hour for CHPP 2. The stage III expansion also requires construction of a new coal load-out facility and about four miles (eight kilometers) of rail spur.

In the event that the revised project does not proceed, the New Acland Coal Mine and CHPP would close in 2017, with the loss of 300 full-time jobs and 160 contract jobs. If New Hope obtains the environmental and mining lease approval, the expansion will create up to 260 employment opportunities during the construction phase, and 435 during the operational phase.

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