Newstan and Northern Coal Services

A Community Consultative Committee (CCC) provides a forum for open discussion between representatives of the Company, community, council and other stakeholders on issues directly relating to the mine’s operations, environmental performance and community relations, and keeps the community informed on these matters.

The Newstan Community Information Hotline is 1800 247 662. A register of community complaints received by the mine can be viewed in the document below.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act is administered by the Federal Government’s Department of Environment which is incorporated into the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities.

The EPBC Act requires any person who proposes to undertake an action that will have, or is likely to have, a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance to refer that action to the Minister for a decision as to whether assessment and approval is required under the EPBC Act. This decision is referred to as a ‘controlled action’. Where it is deemed a controlled action, the Minister may approve the action and issue conditions of approval

Mining operations in NSW are required, as a condition of an authorisation issued under the Mining Act, to conduct mining operations in accordance with a Mining Operations Plan (MOP) that has been approved by NSW Trade and Investment – Division of Resources and Energy.

The MOP describes the manner in which mining, processing, rehabilitation and reporting are to be undertaken with reference to Management Plans and Procedures. The MOP also establishes relationships to other approval and reporting requirements consistent with development consent, leases and licences.

The Pollution Incident Response Management Plan has been developed to satisfy the requirements of the Protection of the Environment Legislation Amendment Act 2011 (POELA Act) which requires the preparation, implementation and publication of a Pollution Incident Response Management Plan.

The objectives of these plans are to provide guidelines and procedures for the effective control and reporting of pollution incidents to all relevant stakeholders.

Whilst personal contact details for the following document are available in the controlled on-site Pollution Incident Response Management Plan, they do not appear in this public document under provision of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

Subsidence Management Plans (SMPs) are prepared by mining lease holders to consider the potential impacts of underground mining and identify measures to manage such impacts. SMPs may contain requirements for the avoidance of damage to particularly significant features, the mitigation of damage, or rehabilitation of subsidence related impacts.

Independent Environmental Audits are undertaken regularly as a component of each mining approval. The audit is undertaken by a suitably qualified independent expert. The purpose of the audit is to independently assess the environmental performance of the mine and whether it is complying with the relevant requirements of its project approval, any relevant mining lease and environmental protection licence.