PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) has backed major Rio Tinto’s plans to expand the Mount Thorley Warkworth coal mine.

The PAC this week formally recommended that the Minister for Planning should approve the project, subject to the provision of additional information on a number of matters.

In its determination, the PAC said that the project was consistent with government policy and legislation, with the body also recognising the significant economic benefits the project could deliver to the state and the region.

In June last year, Rio released a new planning application for the extension project, after the New South Wales Court of Appeal refused an appeal against the New South Wales Land and Environment Court’s decision to overturn a 2012 development consent for the extension of the project.

Instead of a single development approval, Rio split the approval application into two separate developments.

The Warkworth continuation project would involve an extension of the mining time period and footprint of the existing Warkworth opencut mine, involving the extraction of an additional 230-million tonnes of run-of-mine (RoM) coal, over a 21-year period, at a rate of 18-million tonnes of coal a year.

The Mount Thorley continuation project would involve the continuation of the existing opencut mining operations at a rate of up to ten-million tonnes a year RoM coal, with extraction expected to continue until 2022.

The PAC pointed out that the two separate development applications, in operational terms, were similar to the previous application with the same expansion footprint, but changes made to the applications had addressed issues raised by the Land and Environment Court in 2013.

Coal output from the operation, which supplied high-quality coal on long-term contracts to Japan, would remain at about 12-million tonnes a year if mining was permitted to continue.

Rio has welcomed the PAC’s recommendation, with Mount Thorley Warkworth GM Mark Rodgers describing it as a “very encouraging outcome” and a “vital” step towards securing a strong future for the Mount Thorley Warkworth mine, which provided work for 1 300 people and supported hundreds of Hunter Valley businesses and community groups.

“While the PAC’s recommendation is a positive step for Mount Thorley Warkworth, it is absolutely critical that a final decision is now made as quickly as possible,” said Rodgers.

“We are reaching the point where the shape of our existing development consent footprint means the area we can mine in will narrow over coming months, making it increasingly difficult to maintain existing production and employment levels.”

The extension project was expected to cost about A$719-million, and would deliver a net economic benefit of about A$1.5-billion to New South Wales.