Anglo American have confirmed they will be submitting a new mine plan for their Drayton South project.
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This will be the company’s third attempt to get the project approved as its two previous mine plans have been rejected by the independent Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC).
The first plan was rejected in December last year and then the company submitted a retracted mine plan and it was also rejected in October this year.
On both occasions PAC said the Drayton South mine would have too greater impact on the neighbouring internationally renowned thoroughbred studs Coolmore and Darley.
In its decision on the retracted mine plan PAC also considered the two studs were the vital link in the entire Upper Hunter thoroughbred industry.
Previously Anglo American has stated, in response to the PAC reports, it would be uneconomic to reduce the size of their mine in particular to remove the Redbank pit.
Anglo are also calling of the government to ensure their new mine plan is approved in the first half of 2015.
Anglo American’s Coal business, chief executive officer Seamus French, said “Anglo American will develop a new project to provide employment and operational continuity for the Drayton workforce, address the Planning Assessment Commission’s (PAC) October 2014 report and deliver world-class environmental management practices around rehabilitation, noise, dust, visual amenity, proximity to neighbours and equine health.”
“The new project has been reduced to the Blakefield and Whynot pits which provides a significant buffer between the Coolmore and Darley horse studs and the operation, the life of mine will be 15 years and the total tonnes produced will be 75 million.
“As we make these further compromises, it is time for fair assessment that takes the broader community, economy, local business impacts and declining employment options into consideration.
“Anglo American believes the projected $900 million in annual regional economic benefits to the Hunter Valley and to the State of NSW has been ignored by the PAC up until this point and immediate action is required to save the jobs of our workforce.
“We will immediately begin work on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project to lodge early in the New Year, demonstrating the considerable economic and community benefits, leading environmental management practices, innovative progressive rehabilitation methods and elimination of any visual impacts.
“We ask the PAC to complete a fair and balanced assessment of the Drayton mine extension project based on the scientific evidence we have repeatedly presented and the further significant concessions that have been provided by the company, employees and NSW taxpayers as part of the new plan.
“We have fully addressed the PAC’s specific concerns regarding proximity to the horse studs by moving operations back behind the PAC-prescribed second ridgeline, which means the mine will be more than two kilometres from both Darley and Coolmore’s main operating areas and fully complies with the PAC’s boundary requirements.” Mr French said.
“With the concessions made to date, the people of NSW are now essentially subsidising two horse stud operations that do not pay any taxes. This is not about Anglo American. It is the people of NSW who miss out on the significant community and state benefits that have been forgone to appease the two horse studs,” Mr French said.
Mr French said recent comments made by the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association, criticising the planning system for allowing proponents to make “numerous” attempts at projects were irrelevant.
“Let’s not forget mining has been considered for this particular lease for more than seven decades, with exploration and drilling beginning in the 1940s long before the horse studs operated here,” he said.
“To be clear, we still believe we submitted the right plan for review last time and the Department of Planning agreed and concluded in July 2014 that the project was in the public interest and should be approved.
“Anglo American was obligated to develop a mine plan that maximised the true potential of this resource for all stakeholders and that’s what we did, but unfortunately the PAC disagreed.
“We will progress the project proposal with urgency with the aim to secure approval in the first half of next year, and we will warmly welcome the Government’s speedy consideration of the EIS,” he said.
Commenting on the Anglo announcement Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association, president Cameron Collins said “The NSW Government must act now to provide certainty and protect the critical equine cluster that is of state, national and international significance”
The announcement by Anglo American that it intends to develop a further plan for the rejected Drayton South mine is not only riddled with inaccuracies but raises serious questions about a planning system that allows companies to submit numerous mine plans for a project that has been comprehensively rejected and is clearly not in the public interest, Dr Collins said.
In its press release Anglo American says this decision is not about Anglo, it is about the people of NSW who will miss out, he said.
"But the Government’s Independent experts – all 12 of them – taking into account all the economic, social and environmental impacts unequivocally concluded that the Drayton South mine was not in the public interest and not in the interest of the people of NSW," Dr Collins said
"Anglo American says this is a mine extension project. It is not. It is a new mine on a new title many kilometers away from their current mining operations at Drayton North.
"Anglo American says this particular lease has been around for decades “long before the horse studs operated here”.
"This statement conveniently ignores that horse breeding has been in this area and on these particular studs since the 19th century - a fact that has been communicated tirelessly and officially by our industry and experts throughout this process."
Dr Collins went onto to say Anglo American continues to suggest that the Drayton South decision was just about two horse studs.
This either misunderstands or purposely misrepresents that one new mine, Drayton South, will impact the entire equine industry in the Hunter Valley, and result in the demise of Australia’s premier thoroughbred breeding industry and the second largest in the world.
This finding is one of the reasons why the Planning Assessment Commission refused the Drayton South project.
It is sensationalism at its best to suggest that any concessions made by Anglo American is a subsidy to the two studs. This is a decision about sustainability and economic diversity. About one mine versus the demise of entire industries – tourism, wines and thoroughbreds. It is a decision about a fading industry versus a sustainable future.
Anglo American is quoted as saying that it will now fully address the PAC’s specific concerns but throughout this entire process they have been adamant that to do so would render the project unviable and uneconomic.
However, earlier this month, Anglo American Plc CEO, Mark Cutifani announced the company’s plans to sell stakes in or exit its Australian thermal coal operations. Where does this leave Drayton South?
“We have been through a thorough, scientific and evidence based process. A process that was transparent and predictable. What Anglo does not like is the outcome," Dr Collins said.
“Our industries and our community have had enough uncertainty. It is time the Government delivered on its election promise to protect strategic agricultural land and water resources and resolve land use conflicts.
"It is time the Government put an end to all the uncertainty and legislated to protected our nationally and internationally significant industries, the 640 jobs directly at risk as a result of this project and the hundreds of thousands of people our industries employ nationally.”