Cumnock No. 1 Colliery Pty Limited Environmental Assessment Cumnock Wash Plant Mining and Rehabilitation Project December 2008 Environmental Assessment Cumnock Wash Plant Mining and Rehabilitation Project Prepared by Umwelt (Australia) Pty Limited on behalf of Cumnock No. 1 Colliery Pty Limited Project Director: John Merrell Project Manager: Camille Boxall Report No. 2185/R03/Final Date: December 2008 2/20 The Boulevarde PO Box 838 Toronto NSW 2283 Ph: 02 4950 5322 Fax: 02 4950 5737 Email:
[email protected] Website: www.umwelt.com.au Cumnock Wash Plant Mining and Rehabilitation Project EA Executive Summary Executive Summary Cumnock No.1 Colliery Pty Limited (Cumnock) operates open cut and underground coal mines located between Singleton and Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales (NSW). Cumnock is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xstrata Coal (Xstrata). Mining at Cumnock has been ongoing since the 1950s, with the current operations expected to exhaust economic coal reserves by the end of 2008. Closure and decommissioning of the mining operation will commence in early 2009, with the first stage of closure involving the removal of the Cumnock Coal Handling Preparation Plant (CHPP) and rehabilitation of the CHPP site. A small coal reserve has been identified beneath the CHPP site. Cumnock propose to recover this coal reserve as part of the CHPP site rehabilitation process. The mining of the proposed Wash Plant Pit gives Cumnock a unique opportunity to economically access a coal reserve and remediate and rehabilitate the site during the mining process. The proposed Wash Plant Pit will involve mining operations for an approximate one year period, resulting in production of approximately 1 million tonnes (Mt) of run-of-mine (ROM) coal.