JERRYS Plains could be the site of the world’s first underground mine training facility.
Details of the $200 million proposal were presented by mining services company ResCo at a town meeting in Jerrys Plains on Wednesday night.
However, while the training centre will undoubtedly be of a great benefit to Singleton and the Hunter Valley, it does pose a problem for the Jerrys Plains community.
In order for the training centre to be financially sustainable, ResCo will have to open and operate an underground mine near the Jerrys Plains village.
ResCo has made a submission to the Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, requesting an exploration licence for an area to the north west of the village.
If granted a mining licence, ResCo would be looking to extract two million tonnes of coal a year to help fund the training centre.
Not surprisingly, this was the topic that created the most debate during a question and answer session after the presentation.
Answering the calls of opposition to a mine so close to the town, ResCo chairman John Maitland said if it wasn’t his company, it would be another.
“If the community says they don’t want the mine and fight against it, it probably won’t happen,” Mr Maitland said.
“We and our stakeholders don’t want to be involved in a fight with the community.
“However, if we walk away from this, I can assure you that the State Government will put the exploration licence up for the highest bidder.
“Then you will still have the mine but not the benefits that this training centre will bring.”
Mr Maitland said that while he understood the community was concerned about the impact mining would have on their village, he hoped the community would come to embrace the project.
“This is a terrific opportunity for Jerrys Plains as this facility will revolutionise education and provide employment and economic benefits for the town,” he said.
“And the community will have a far greater say with us than with a multi-national corporation.”
Mr Maitland said his company and other stakeholders would meet with the community on a regular basis to keep it up to date on developments.
Addressing the meeting, Jerrys Plains resident Paul Nichols said the proposal should not be dismissed outright.
“I’m not saying we should accept this proposal, but we need to have a look at what is on offer,” Mr Nichols said.
“The prospect of the mine worries me, but it will be to our detriment if we say go away and not explore this further.”
Those in attendance chose to leave a decision on what course to take to a future meeting.
The Doyles Creek training mine, as the project is known, will be a centre of excellence in mining, training, education and research.
It is backed by ResCo, the Hunter Valley Training Company, Westpac Rescue Helicopter, the University of Newcastle and Doyles Creek Mining.
It is expected that 104 trainees and a further 50 university students will be based at the training centre each year.
As well as a mine, it is proposed the site will contain a training facility, a workshop, an administration building, accommodation and recreation areas, water recycling plant and reservoir, and a LNG plant that will be used to turn methane from the mine into liquefied natural gas.
The centre will offer Certificates 2, 3 and 4 in underground mining and provide on site interactive demonstrations of safe working practices and will also have the latest in computer simulations of mining operations.
The centre plans to address the national skill shortage to developing highly skilled, risk conscious trainees.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter