With school due to start in a matter of weeks, Dr Au is getting the motions in place to continue his study of 800 students and add a further 100 to his five-year study.

With the introduction of the air quality monitor in Singleton, Dr Au said he hopes to see how the ‘pit flow’ works with the results he has so far.

His preliminary results in April of last year showed one in six of the children tested produced a lower lung function test result.

“In Branxton it is about one in 20 which is giving an early indication that something is happening in Singleton,” he said at the time.

Dr Au said the recent blast that resulted in a toxic orange cloud in the sky over Bulga was definitely concerning and reason why there needs to be best practice measures put in place at mines in the Upper Hunter.

“There is a lot the mines can do to minimise the impact on the environment,” he said.

The NSW Coal Mining Benchmark Study released on December 23 shows the report identified the four key sources of PM10 dust emissions from coal mining activities as:

Haul trucks travelling on unpaved roads (40 per cent);

Wind erosion of exposed areas and stockpiles (27 per cent);

Bulldozers (8 per cent);

Blasting (6 per cent).

Of the 58 mines reviewed in the study, six hunter mines were found to contribute over 50 per cent of the Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) matter, PM10 and PM2.5 emissions in the greater metro region.

Dr Au said the mine best practice measures need to be implemented and be enforced by mines, and the state and federal government.

Mining expansions are also concerning the doctor and he calls, yet again, for an investigation into the maximum pollution produced from Singleton’s mines and not just penalise the non-compliance of each individual mine.