THERE are currently 11 mine modifications in the Singleton Local Government area that will not be impacted by the state government’s 60 day moratorium on the issuing of exploration licences for new coal, coal seam gas and petroleum exploration licences. As the moratorium applies to only ‘new’ coal, modifications including extensions are not included in the moratorium. The new licences are administered by the Minister for Energy and Resources Chris Hartcher. A government spokesperson said the Department of Planning and Infrastructure’s assessing and determining project applications and modifications is an entirely separate process which is not affected by the moratorium. The expansions will not be impacted by any new legislation introduced for new coal projects either. An advertisement was placed in The Singleton Argus two days after the announcement of a modification at Wambo mine. The Department of Planning and Infrastructure is currently assessing two modifications for Wambo – an extension of the Wambo Coal Montrose East Underground mine and a rail refueling facility. Other applications for modifications include Hunter Valley Operations – extension of Carrington Pit; MtThorley Warkworth – extension project extracting 18 million tones of ROM coal a year; Mt Thorley Warkworth – modification 5 extending the approved Abbey Green North Pit by approximately 75 hectares to the west, to enable extraction of approximately 5 million tonnes of run-of-mine coal; Ashton Coal – modification 5; Ashton Coal – south east open cut project a new open cut pit; Ashton Coal modification 7; Ravensworth Mining Complex – underground modification 9; Bulga-Beltana Mining Complex – rail refueling facility. Like Wambo Coal’s modification, many of the extension proposals relate to an extension of an existing operation and are covered by existing coal mining leases.