January 2006 NEW ACLAND COAL MINE STAGE 2 EXPANSION PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT Contents Executive Summary Glossary 1. Introduction 1-1 1.1 The Project 1-1 1.2 Project Description 1-1 1.3 Project Proponent 1-3 1.4 Study Team 1-4 1.5 Project Objectives and Scope 1-4 1.6 The Environmental Impact Assessment Process 1-4 1.6.1 Purpose of the EIS 1-4 1.6.2 Objectives of the EIS 1-5 1.6.3 Structure of the EIS 1-5 1.7 Public Consultation Process and Submissions 1-5 1.8 Project Approvals and Legislative Framework 1-6 1.8.1 Environmental Protection Act 1994 1-6 1.8.2 Mineral Resources Act 1989 1-10 1.8.3 Integrated Planning Act 1997 1-10 1.8.4 Water Act 2000 1-11 1.8.5 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 1-11 1.8.6 Queensland Heritage Act 1992 1-11 1.8.7 Nature Conservation Act 1992 1-12 1.8.8 Land Act 1994 1-12 1.8.9 Vegetation Management Act 1999 1-12 1.8.10 Transport Infrastructure Act 1994 1-12 1.8.11 Forestry Act 1959 1-12 1.8.12 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 1-12 1.9 Project Need 1-13 2. Description of the Project 2-1 2.1 Key Elements of the Project 2-1 2.2 Project Need 2-1 2.3 The Coal Mine 2-4 2.3.1 Coal Resources and Coal Reserves 2-4 2.3.2 Resource Utilisation 2-5 2.3.3 Mining Tenures 2-5 2.3.4 Mining and Rehabilitation 2-5 2.3.5 Blasting 2-15 2.3.6 Mine Equipment 2-15 2.3.7 Mine Facilities and Infrastructure 2-15 2.4 Coal Handling and Processing 2-16 2.4.1 Coal Processing Chain 2-16 2.4.2 Product Coal 2-17 2.4.3 Dust Suppression 2-17 2.4.4 Coal Processing Waste Circuit 2-17 2.5 Coal Transport 2-19 New Acland Coal Mine Stage 2 Expansion Project – Environmental Impact Statement PAGE i 2.6 Water Management 2-20 2.6.1 System Overview 2-20 2.6.2 Separation of Runoff 2-20 2.6.3 Coal Process and Industrial Area 2-20 2.6.4 Sediment Control 2-22 2.6.5 Mine Water Management 2-22 2.6.6 Water Supply 2-22 2.7 Coal Transport 2-23 2.7.1 Train Movements 2-23 2.8 Road Realignment / Closure 2-23 2.9 Construction 2-23 2.9.1 Schedule 2-23 2.9.2 Material Volumes and Equipment 2-23 2.9.3 Transport of Plant and Equipment 2-24 2.10 Fire Protection System 2-24 2.11 Workforce 2-24 2.11.1 Construction Phase 2-24 2.11.2 Operational Phase 2-24 2.12 Decommissioning 2-25 2.13 Project Alternatives 2-25 2.13.1 No Project 2-25 2.13.2 Alternative Locations 2-25 2.13.3 Mining Options 2-25 2.13.4 Mining Techniques 2-25 2.13.5 Coal Wash Plant 2-26 2.13.6 Location of Dams 2-26 3. Land Resources 3-1 3.1 Existing Environment 3-1 3.1.1 Existing Land Use and Tenure 3-1 3.1.2 Land Use and Planning Provisions 3-1 3.1.3 Native Title 3-6 3.1.4 Sensitive Environmental Areas 3-6 3.1.5 Topography 3-7 3.1.6 Climate 3-7 3.1.7 Geology 3-9 3.1.8 Soils 3-12 3.2 Land Suitability 3-21 3.2.1 Limitations for Rainfed Cropping 3-21 3.2.2 Limitations for Beef Cattle Grazing 3-25 3.2.3 Pre-Mine Land Suitability 3-28 3.2.4 Post Mine Land Use Suitability 3-28 3.3 Good Quality Agricultural Land 3-30 3.4 Erosion Potential and Control 3-30 3.5 Contaminated Land 3-34 3.5.1 Potential for Contamination 3-34 3.5.2 Sampling, Analysis & Results 3-35 3.5.3 Contamination Prevention and Control 3-37 3.6 Overburden Characterisation and Management 3-37 PAGE ii New Acland Coal Mine Stage 2 Expansion Project – Environmental Impact Statement 3.6.1 Geochemistry and Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) Characterisation of Mine Waste 3-37 3.6.2 Management of Waste Rock 3-41 3.7 Rehabilitation 3-41 3.7.1 Proposed Post Mining Land Use 3-41 3.7.2 Post-Mine Landform 3-41 3.7.3 Mine Rehabilitation Strategies 3-42 3.7.4 Progressive Rehabilitation 3-44 3.7.5 Topsoil Management 3-44 3.7.6 Revegetation 3-45 3.7.7 Rehabilitation Success Criteria 3-45 3.7.8 Rehabilitation Maintenance 3-45 3.7.9 Rehabilitation Monitoring 3-46 3.7.10 Decommissioning 3-46 4. Water Resources 4-1 4.1 Surface Water Resources – Existing Environment 4-1 4.1.1 Existing Regional Hydrology 4-1 4.1.2 Existing Local Hydrology 4-3 4.2 Surface Water Resources - Impacts 4-3 4.2.1 Impacts on Regional Hydrology 4-3 4.2.2 Mine Water Management 4-4 4.2.3 Lagoon Creek Flooding Assessment 4-8 4.3 Surface Water Resources - Mitigation Measures 4-13 4.3.1 Monitoring programs 4-13 4.4 Surface Water Quality 4-15 4.4.1 Aquatic Impacts 4-17 4.4.2 Increase of Sediment Input into Rivers and Streams 4-17 4.4.3 Ecological Impacts due to Increased Hydrological Disturbance 4-18 4.4.4 Water Quality 4-18 4.5 Groundwater Quality 4-19 4.5.1 Groundwater Hydrology 4-19 4.5.2 Groundwater Quality 4-36 4.6 Ground Water Resources – Potential Impacts 4-40 4.6.1 Impacts on Groundwater – During Mine Dewatering and Operation 4-40 4.6.2 Impacts on Groundwater – Post-Mining 4-47 4.7 Final Void Water Quality Assessment 4-48 4.7.1 Groundwater Resources 4-48 5. Nature Conservation 5-1 5.1 Terrestrial Flora and Fauna – Overview 5-1 5.1.1 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Matters 5-1 5.1.2 Field Survey Methods 5-2 5.2 Terrestrial Flora and Fauna – Existing Environment 5-5 5.2.1 Terrestrial Flora 5-5 5.2.2 Community Descriptions 5-6 5.2.3 Vegetation Corridors 5-8 5.2.4 Weeds of Management Concern 5-8 5.2.5 Terrestrial Fauna 5-8 5.3 Terrestrial Flora and Fauna - Impacts 5-13 New Acland Coal Mine Stage 2 Expansion Project – Environmental Impact Statement PAGE iii 5.4 Terrestrial Flora and Fauna - Mitigation Measures 5-13 5.4.1 Weed Management Strategies 5-14 5.4.2 Pest and Domestic Animal Management 5-14 5.4.3 Revegetation and Rehabilitation 5-14 5.4.4 Ongoing Monitoring of Flora and Fauna 5-15 5.5 Conclusions and Recommendations – Terrestrial Flora and Fauna 5-15 5.6 Aquatic Ecology 5-15 5.6.1 Background 5-15 5.6.2 Aquatic Habitat 5-17 5.6.3 Fish Communities 5-17 5.6.4 Aquatic Macroinvertebrates 5-18 6. Air Quality 6-1 6.1 Existing Environment 6-1 6.1.1 Climate 6-1 6.1.2 Existing Air Quality 6-5 6.2 Air Quality Legislation and Dust Criteria 6-7 6.2.1 Dust Concentration 6-7 6.2.2 Dust Deposition 6-8 6.3 Air Quality Impact Assessment 6-8 6.3.1 Sources of Air Emissions 6-8 6.3.2 Estimation of Dust Emissions 6-8 6.3.3 Modelling Methodology 6-11 6.3.4 Input Meteorology 6-12 6.4 Air – Potential Impacts 6-13 6.4.1 Current Operations 6-13 6.4.2 2015 Operations 6-16 6.4.3 Discussion 6-19 6.5 Other Issues 6-19 6.5.1 Odour 6-19 6.5.2 Jondaryan Rail Siding 6-19 6.5.3 Vegetation Impacts 6-20 6.5.4 Livestock and Wildlife Impacts 6-20 6.6 Greenhouse Gases 6-20 6.7 Air Quality Management Strategies 6-21 6.8 Monitoring 6-22 6.9 Conclusion 6-22 7. Noise and Vibration 7-1 7.1 Overview 7-1 7.2 Existing environment 7-1 7.2.1 Background noise levels 7-1 7.2.2 Local and regional meteorology 7-5 7.3 Noise - Legislative context 7-7 7.3.1 Environmental Protection (Noise) Policy 1997 7-8 7.3.2 Environmental Authority (EA) 7-8 7.3.3 Road traffic noise criteria 7-8 7.3.4 Project specific assessment criteria 7-9 7.4 Management of impacts on environmental values 7-9 PAGE iv New Acland Coal Mine Stage 2 Expansion Project – Environmental Impact Statement 7.4.1 Overview 7-9 7.4.2 Equipment noise levels 7-9 7.4.3 Noise level prediction methodology 7-10 7.4.4 Modelling results 7-11 7.4.5 Airblast overpressure and vibration 7-15 7.4.6 Road noise 7-16 7.4.7 Impacts on animals 7-17 7.5 Mitigation measures 7-17 7.5.1 Noise impacts 7-17 7.5.2 Airblast overpressure and vibration 7-18 7.6 Conclusions 7-18 8. Cultural Heritage 8-1 8.1 Existing Values 8-1 8.1.1 Previous Studies 8-1 8.1.2 Legislative Context 8-1 8.2 Assessment Methodology 8-2 8.2.1 Scientific Significance 8-2 8.2.2 Aboriginal Significance 8-3 8.3 Indigenous Cultural Heritage – Aboriginal Significance 8-3 8.4 Non-indigenous Cultural Heritage 8-4 8.5 Potential Impacts and Mitigation Measures 8-4 8.5.1 Indigenous Cultural Heritage 8-4 8.5.2 Non-Indigenous Cultural Heritage 8-5 9.