DENDROOBIUM MININE - PLAN FORFO THE FUTUREE: COAL FORFO STEELMMAKING DECEMBERB 2016 REFERRAL OF PROPOSED ACTION UNDER THE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERRVATION ACT, 1999 Referral of proposed action Proposed DENDROBIUM MINE – PLAN FOR THE FUTURE: action title: COAL FOR STEELMAKING 1 Summary of proposed action 1.1 Short description The Dendrobium Mine – Plan for the Future: Coal for Steelmaking (the Action) is an extension to the underground mining areas at the Dendrobium Mine to gain access to additional areas within Consolidated Coal Lease (CCL) 768 and related surface infrastructure and activities. The coal would be extracted using longwall mining methods in the Action underground mining areas (Area 5 and Area 6). The Dendrobium Mine is an existing underground coal mine situated in the Southern Coalfield of New South Wales (NSW) (Figure 1). The Dendrobium Mine is owned and operated by Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd (Illawarra Coal), a wholly owned subsidiary of South32 Limited (South32). The Dendrobium Mine was determined to be a Controlled Action (EPBC 2001/214) and was subsequently approved on 20 December 2001. The Action, the subject of this referral under the EPBC Act, does not include aspects of the existing and/or approved operations at the Dendrobium Mine (as described further in Section 2.1). 1.2 Latitude and longitude Table 1 Location of the Action Latitude Longitude Location Point Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds 1 -34 19 56.81 150 39 09.14 2 -34 20 27.82 150 42 36.71 3 -34 18 05.16 150 43 07.64 4 -34 18 20.28 150 47 32.31 5 -34 20 14.28 150 47 17.95 6 -34 23 07.18 150 41 07.88 7 -34 22 51.93 150 38 31.01 Location points are presented on Figure 2. 1.3 Locality and property description The Action is located west of Wollongong in the Southern Coalfield, NSW (Figure 1). The Action is located within CCL 768, which is a mining tenement under the NSW Mining Act, 1992. The Action underground mining areas are located within the catchments of the Avon and Cordeaux Rivers, which are part of Greater Sydney’s water supply system. These catchments are situated within the Metropolitan Special Area declared under the Water NSW Act, 2014 (Figure 3). There has been a long history of longwall mining in these water catchments, including the Dendrobium Mine that commenced longwall mining in 2005. 001 Referral of proposed action v November 2016 Page 1 of 59 1.4 Size of the development The areas above the Action underground mining areas are approximately footprint or work area 2,100 hectares (ha) in Area 5 and 760 ha in Area 6. (hectares) The extent of surface disturbance related to the Action will be refined through detailed mine planning, environmental assessment outcomes and consideration of alternatives. Based on the current understanding of the Action, this is anticipated to be less than 20 ha of surface disturbance. 1.5 Street address of the site Dendrobium Mine, Cordeaux Road, Mount Kembla NSW, 2526. 1.6 Lot description The Action would involve underground mining within the areas shown on Figure 2 and associated surface infrastructure and activities within the area bounded by the location points. The Action would occur within parts of Lot 1, DP 1186788 and Lot 13, DP 1092321. 1.7 Local Government Area and Council contact (if known) The Action is within the Wollongong, Wingecarribee and Wollondilly Local Government Areas (Figure 1). The Action is not subject to a local government planning approval, however, does require planning approval from the NSW Minister for Planning (or delegate). Section 2.4 of this referral provides further details about the relevance of the NSW planning system to the Action. 1.8 Time frame Longwall mining in the Action underground mining areas could occur between 2022 and the end of 2048, with the exact timing dependent on further mine planning. 1.9 Alternatives to proposed No action Yes, please also complete section 2.2 1.10 Alternative time frames, No locations or activities Yes, you must also complete Section 2.3. For each alternative, location, time frame, or activity identified, you must also complete details in Sections 1.2-1.9, 2.4-2.7 and 3 and 5 (where relevant). 1.11 Commonwealth, State or No Territory assessment Yes, please also complete section 2.5 1.12 Component of larger action No Yes, please also complete section 2.7 1.13 Related actions/proposals No Yes, please also complete section 2.8 1.14 Australian Government No funding Yes, please provide details 1.15 Great Barrier Reef Marine No Park Yes, please also complete section 3.1 (h), 3.2 (e) 001 Referral of proposed action v November 2016 Page 2 of 59 2 Detailed description of proposed action 2.1 Description of proposed action Background The Dendrobium Mine, incorporating extraction of the Wongawilli Seam from an area north of the Eloura Mine, Woronora Plateau and associated works, was determined to be a Controlled Action (EPBC 2001/214). The Action was subsequently approved on 20 December 2001. Construction for Dendrobium Mine commenced in January 2002, with longwall mining commencing in April 2005. The Dendrobium Mine includes three approved underground mining areas, named Areas 1, 2 and 3. Area 3 is broken into three further sub-areas Areas 3A, 3B and 3C. Longwall mining is currently being undertaken in Area 3, with extraction complete in Areas 1 and 2. Key surface infrastructure at the Dendrobium Mine (Figure 2) includes the: • Dendrobium Pit Top; • Kemira Valley Coal Loading Facility; • Kemira Valley Rail Line; • Dendrobium Coal Preparation Plant (CPP) (located within the Port Kembla Steelworks precinct); and • Dendrobium Shafts Nos 1, 2 and 3. The Dendrobium Mine was also approved by the NSW Minister for Urban Affairs and Planning on 20 November 2001 under the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, 1979 (EP&A Act). The Dendrobium Mine Development Consent (DA 60-03-2001) has been modified seven times under the NSW planning system (Modifications). For each of the approved Modifications, Illawarra Coal determined that no referral under the EPBC Act was required (i.e. no significant impacts on matters of national environmental significance were expected to occur as a result of each Modification and/or the Modification was consistent with the approved Controlled Action). This current approved development, and the continued operations associated with this development, does not form part of the proposed Action, whether or not those components or operations have been constructed or commenced. The Action The Action is a proposed extension to the underground mining areas at the Dendrobium Mine to gain access to additional areas within the Action underground mining areas (Area 5 and Area 6) and related surface infrastructure and activities. Figure 2 shows the extents of the Action underground mining areas (Area 5 and Area 6), which would be located within CCL 768. Associated surface infrastructure and activities would be within the area bounded by the location points on Figure 2. The Action would include the following components at the Dendrobium Mine: • longwall mining from the Bulli Seam within the Action underground mining area shown as Area 5 on Figure 2; • longwall mining from the Wongawilli Seam within the Action underground mining area shown as Area 6 on Figure 2; • upgrades and augmentations to the Cordeaux Pit Top (Figure 2) to allow personnel and materials access to the Action underground mining areas (if required); • development of two mine ventilation shafts and associated infrastructure to support the Action underground mining activities; 001 Referral of proposed action v November 2016 Page 3 of 59 • development of surface infrastructure associated with gas management and abatement to support the Action underground mining activities; and • monitoring, rehabilitation and remediation of subsidence and other mining effects associated with the Action underground mining areas. The Action would use existing infrastructure associated with the existing Dendrobium Mine. However, the Action does not include any of this existing or approved infrastructure. The Action, the subject of this referral, does not include aspects of the operations at the Dendrobium Mine (including any approved land disturbance activities within the Action underground mining areas) that would remain consistent with: • actions currently approved through the Development Consent DA 60-03-2001 (including Modifications) issued under the NSW planning system; • exploration activities approved under mining and exploration tenements issued under the NSW Mining Act, 1992, including CCL 768, Authorisation (AUTH) 143 and AUTH 338; and/or • aspects that form part of the approved Controlled Action under the EPBC Act (EPBC 2001/214). In other words, the Dendrobium Mine operations which are not the subject of this referral include (but are not limited to): • approved underground mining operations in the Wongawilli Seam at the Dendrobium Mine and associated surface activities (such as monitoring and remediation); • approved and continued operation of the Dendrobium Pit Top, Kemira Valley Coal Loading Facility, Kemira Valley Rail Line, Dendrobium CPP and Dendrobium Shafts Nos 1, 2 and 3; • approved and continued development and use of the West Cliff Stage 3 and Stage 4 Coal Wash Emplacement (approved under EPBC 2001/214 and EPBC 2010/5350, respectively); • non-subsiding underground roadways and development which would be used to access the Action underground mining areas; and • ongoing exploration activities at the Dendrobium Mine. Underground Mining Operations Longwall mining involves the extraction of rectangular panels of coal defined by underground roadways constructed around each longwall. The longwall mining machine travels back and forth across the width of the coal face progressively removing coal in slices from the panel. Once each slice of coal is removed from the longwall face, the hydraulic roof supports are moved forward, allowing the roof and a section of the overlying strata to fall behind the longwall (referred to as forming the ‘goaf’).