29 August, 2013
Massive damage highlights unacceptable risks of mining in sensitive areas and water catchments
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has renewed calls for the state government to ban longwall mining in sensitive areas and water catchments following reports that a large section of Sugarloaf State Conservation Area in the lower Hunter has been destroyed by massive subsidence from Glencore's West Wallsend Colliery.
An investigation by The Newcastle Herald [1] has revealed that cliff faces have crumbled or collapsed, a waterway has been destroyed and large cracks have opened in the earth over more than 2km within the ecologically sensitive conservation area adjacent to the mine's Longwall 41. Damage is thought to have been caused by unplanned subsidence associated with the Glencore project, which is mining beneath 23 per cent of the conservation area.
Efforts to remediate the damage by pouring grout into the cracks compounded the problems. [2] Contractors working for coal giant Glencore Xstrata pumped more than 180 tonnes of concrete into a tributary of Cockle Creek at Lake Macquarie. Workers were reportedly “unaware that more than 12 concrete trucks worth of grout was spewing out another crack at the bottom and running straight into the creek”. [2]
The mine was granted approval by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure in January last year to extend its underground operations under the conservation area. Approval included the Longwall 41 that caused the damage.
A spokeswoman for the Division of Resources and Energy is reported as saying subsidence predictions from underground mining were based on “expert opinion of the likelihood of surface impacts”. However, the spokeswoman said:
“It is not an exact science and can depend upon a large number of factors including depth of the workings.” [2]
“The devastation at Sugarloaf State Conservation Area highlights the extreme, unacceptable risks associated with longwall coal mining in sensitive areas and water catchments,” NCC Campaigns Director Kate Smolski said. “The impacts of longwall mines on the surface cannot be predicted with certainty, as the Division of Resources and Energy has admitted.
“We call on the state government to ban longwall mining in sensitive environmental areas and in the state’s drinking water catchments. These areas protect critical resources fo r the people of NSW and should not be destroyed for the short-term benefit of one special interest, the mining industry.”
[1] http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id=4699092
[2] http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1738386/sugarloaf-coalmine-subsidence-repair-disaster-video-pictures-poll/?cs=310
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