Name of the Project
New Acland Stage 3 coal mine expansion project.

Location
Queensland, Australia.

Project Owner/s
New Acland Coal (NAC), a subsidiary of the New Hope Group.

Project Description
NAC operates the existing New Acland coal mine as a 4.8-million-tonne-a-year opencut coal mine on mining lease (ML) 50170 and ML 50216. The mine has reserves that will allow for current operations to continue until about 2017.

The project will expand the mine’s yearly output from 4.8-million tonnes to 7.5-million tonnes and will extend the operation’s life beyond the current end-date of 2017/18.

The revised coal project proposes to develop Stage 3 of the New Acland mine, which involves the extension of the mine’s operating life to about 2029, including the progressive development of two new resource areas within the area covered by Mining Development Licence 244, also covered by ML application 50232.

The two resource areas will be developed sequentially and, combined with the current operations, will supply up to 7.5-million tonnes a year of saleable product coal for the export and domestic markets until about 2029.

Key features of the project include:

• developing parts of the Manning Vale and Willeroo resource areas;
• upgrading the existing coal handling and preparation plant and supporting infrastructure; constructing a new coal load-out facility on the mining lease and an estimated 8 km rail spur, as a result of the relocation of the existing Jondaryan coal load-out facility;
• roadworks and constructing water management structures; and
• relocating and potentially upgrading the power supply to the revised project.

The Acland town area, including Tom Doherty park, the War Memorial and the Acland No 2 colliery and utility services, will be maintained over the life of the revised project.

The closest point of potential mining operations will be at least 10 km away from Oakey, compared with the 7 km previously proposed.

The land disturbed for mining activities will be reduced by more than half, compared with the original Stage 3 proposal.

Veneering to coat all transported coal leaving the mine by train as a measure to reduce the potential for coal dust coming from trains will continue.

Lagoon Creek will not be diverted as previously proposed. Operations will continue to be self-sufficient for water, with water continuing to be bought from Toowoomba’s Wetalla wastewater reclamation facility. Only about 20% of the Wetalla water is bought by NAC.

Production levels from the New Acland mine will be reduced by at least 25% to 7.5-million tonnes a year, from the originally proposed ten-million tonnes a year.

Potential Job Creation
The expanded operation will result in employment for 260 people at the mine, while ongoing employment will result in up to 435 direct jobs and 2 300 indirect jobs.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
A$900-million.

Planned Start/End Date
About 2.5 years will be required to complete the design and build the mine, as well as other related activities to facilitate the revised project.

Latest Developments
New Hope Group is seeking a meeting with the Queensland government to discuss the future of its Stage 3 expansion at the New Acland mine, after the High Court of Australia granted community group Oakey Coal Action Alliance (OCAA) special leave to appeal an earlier ruling on the mine’s expansion.

The Queensland Court of Appeal ruled against OCAA in 2019, finding that a Land Court decision in 2017 against the expansion of the mine had been affected by apprehended bias.

However, the latest ruling means that the High Court will now hear OCAA’s argument.

New Hope has told shareholders that OCAA is not challenging findings on groundwater or any other environmental issue that is relevant to the outstanding decisions still to be made by the Queensland government.

“In November 2018, the Land Court recommended the granting of the project’s mining lease and environmental authority (EA). In March 2019, the government granted the project its EA and we see no reason why the government can’t also grant the outstanding mining lease and associated water licence,” New Hope COO Andrew Boyd has said.

“We know, from discussions with various government departments, that they have all the information they need to grant the approvals. By acting now, the government will not only protect the current 150 jobs at New Acland but will also allow us to get moving on Stage 3 and create more than 450 new jobs and pump A$7-billion into the state economy,” Boyd has argued.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
New Acland Coal, tel +61 7 3418 0500, fax +61 7 3418 0355 or email aclandinfo@newhopegroup.com.au.