sprinsure objections now closed

Just found this story on the web. Interesting to note that an announcement is expected within 24 hours from BND.

Landholders object to Springsure Creek Coal Project

QLD Country Hour
By Kathleen Calderwood

Posted 1 hour 10 minutes ago

In Central Queensland's pristine Golden Triangle area, a fight is continuing against an underground coal mine.

The area is designated as strategic cropping land, but local producers are worried their farms are at risk from Bandanna Energy's Springsure Creek Coal mine.

Objections to the project's draft environmental authorities and mining lease applications closed yesterday.

The underground coal project, located 47 kilometres south east of Emerald, is scheduled to begin production in mid-2015.

The mine has an operational life of 40 years and it's anticipated that at peak production it will produce 11 million tonnes of thermal coal per year.

It's expected to create 350 construction jobs and more than 500 operational jobs.

Bandanna Energy has hailed the project as an example of how underground mining and agriculture can co-exist.

However, local landholders are not convinced.

Consultant George Houen from Landholder Services lodged five objections on behalf of directly affected and nearby landholders.

He says they are not satisfied with plans in regards to underground water supplies and subsidence.

"The slopes will exceed three per cent and that will disqualify it from being Strategic Cropping Land again, and the slopes will be highly irregular and working the land with big machines will no longer be possible.

"The proposed approvals that are now going to be reviewed by the Land Court don't make any provision for returning that land to its cropping capability.

"Even though the miner says 'yes we'll do it, we won't tell you how as of now, because we're going to work that out as we go along'.

"And no provision has been made to give the landholders protection against damage to their absolutely vital bore water supplies."

Mr Houen says the Land Court's ruling two weeks ago that the Alpha Coal project should either be rejected, or approved subject to specific conditions, give landholders some hope.

"There's no reference at all to soil erosion and fundamental to any longwall mining on cultivation land is that firstly you have to stop farming it and sow it to grass and get the grass established, so that when you start creating steep slopes by subsidence you don't lose it all to erosion.

"That's just one of the things that the landholders have to try to correct through the Land Court, so the landholders have been left to do the job that should've been done by the Environment Department and the Mines Department."

Minister for the Environment Andrew Powell issued a statement in response to the issue.

"The water quality monitoring program for the proposed coal mine is specified in the draft environmental authority," the statement says.

"The draft environmental authority requires that an approved subsidence management plan must be in place prior to any mining taking place."

A statement from the Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney's office says the Springsure Creek Project will need to comply with the SCL protection decision issued by the Department of Mines and Natural Resources earlier this year.

This decision states that mitigation must be provided for over 7000 hectares of identified permanently impacted land.

The total value of this mitigation is almost $34million.

A spokesperson from Bandanna Energy says they are unable to comment, as an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange is due in the next 24 hours.