Mod 7 - Bord and Pillar Mining and Extension

My family have been farming in this area for 5 generations and want to
continue to do so.
The impact of this mine reopening will have a detrimental effect on
our invaluable water supply and on our air quality.
There is also a proven health impact associated with the mines and we
do not need yet another mine.
Please do not reopen the Dartbrook mine.

I am very concerned that the Dartbrook mine may reopen.
Our family has been farming in this area since 1837 and want to
continue to do so.
The potential impact on the aquifer and our water for farming is a
major concern.
Also the air quality and the associated health impacts are a big
issue.
Why is the cancer rate in the Hunter Valley at the highest in the
country Because of the impact the mining industry has had on our air
quality.

I strongly object to this mine reopening.
The negative impact on the air quality, precious underground water and
landscape are to be avoided.
How is the Government considering yet another mine when the impact on
global warning from fossil fuels is already having such a frightening
impact on the world weather.
Please do not reopen the Dartbrook mine.

We note public statements that the mine's real intention is for open cut
mining and that the underground proposal is not genuine. In addition,
there has been no proper community consultation and former coal
experts have previously indicated their concerns of the risky
proposal. The mine proponents have not openly addressed the issues
(gas, fire and flooding) which led to the closing of the mine into a
questionable state of "care and maintenance". The head of the Hunter
River or underground aquifers should not be compromised.

Ms Carolyn McNally
Secretary
NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001


Dear Ms McNally

I wish to object to the Dartbook Coal Mine and specifically to
Australian Pacific Coal's Dartbook Mine DA 231-7-2000 Modifications 2,
3, 4, 5 and 6 and DA 30/91 Modification 5.

The grounds of my objection are that this proposal and the associated
opencut proposal will:
1. cause the degradation of arable farming land
2. create unacceptable air quality impacts for the community of
Aberdeen
3. create unacceptable impacts on the local water table, which we know
is affected by mining
4. and adversely impact local property values.

Our family home of 43 years will lie within several kilometres of the
proposed underground and open cut mines, in the path of prevailing
winds. I see no plan within this proposal to adequately deal with the
impacts on our home and that of our neighbours.

As long time residents we have no confidence in the Environmental
Protection Authority to effectively regulate this proposed development
as it simply isn't feasible to effectively manage the impacts of
something so totally incompatible with communities and other
industries. The mines we have aren't effectively managed and we see
nothing in this proposal that would make it likely to be any more
successful.

Finally, as a grandparent I have considerable concern for future
generations living in this community. Our young people deserve to grow
up in a healthy environment and this is already a faint prospect with
the number of mines currently operating in the area. We simply can't
afford any more. The Berijiklian Government will be failing in its
duty to future generations if it allows this proposal and others like
it to proceed.

Ms Carolyn McNally
Secretary
NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001


Dear Ms McNally
I am writing to voice my objection to the Dartbook Coal Mine and
specifically to Australian Pacific Coal's Dartbook Mine DA 231-7-2000
Modifications 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and DA 30/91 Modification 5.

I have lived in the Aberdeen community for over 80 years and have
witnessed decades of mismanagement of the coal industry.

The Hunter is a fertile river valley with the infrastructure and
proximity to be the food bowl of Sydney. However the explosion of the
export coal industry right on our most fertile river flats is
seriously compromising that potential.

When I was a young man, the coal industry was a small industry with
one or two mines producing coal for the local power stations - no one
had a problem with that.

Over the years though, the infrastructure developed for farming (such
as rail and road infrastructure) and our proximity to the Port of
Newcastle, have attracted export mining. These mines have little to do
with fuelling our power stations and are focused on generating profits
for their foreign owners and the foreign companies that supply them
with equipment. They monopolise the infrastructure that was created
for the agriculture sector along with the most fertile land and the
available water. This is creating a very un-level playing field.

The trouble is that we as residents and our local beef, dairy, wine
and horse industries are left with all the downside. The environmental
and health impacts used to be offset to a degree by the fact that
these mines created local jobs and work for local contractors. These
days though, many of the jobs aren't even local. The workers prefer to
live in Maitland or Newcastle where they don't have to deal with the
dust. The jobs that are created locally are created at the expense of
other local industries.

I've been a business person my whole life and to my way of thinking
this industry just isn't good business for the Upper Hunter.

This proposal - like the Mount Pleasant, Muswellbrook West and
Manobalai propsals that are currently underway - does not offer enough
positives to make up for the serious negative environmental effects
and the ill effects on the health of local people that such a huge
number of coal mines create.

Also, I know that when Dartbrook was previously operating it had
serious issues with flooding and gas. These issues couldn't be solved
by a major mining company so I'm not sure how a smaller, less
experienced company would be better equipped to deal with these
serious problems.

I urge you to reject this proposal or alternatively to encourage this
proponent to find an opportunity away from towns, away from fertile
farming land where their proposal and the infrastructure they develop
might allow the country to be opened up and help local people to
create other industries around it.

We don't have space for another coal mine in the Upper Hunter. This is
the wrong mine in the wrong place.

Ms Carolyn McNally
Secretary
NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001


Dear Ms McNally

I am writing to voice my objection to the Dartbook Coal Mine and
specifically to Australian Pacific Coal's Dartbook Mine DA 231-7-2000
Modifications 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and DA 30/91 Modification 5.

My objection is probably a little bit unusual as my Mum is writing it
on my behalf. I'm 8 months old and I know this kind of thing is
usually decided by adults, but as I'll be living with the impacts of
this mine and others like it, Mum and Dad thought my voice should be
heard.

Your Government is currently planning for a world where our energy
will be mostly renewable, where driverless, electric cars will be
normal and where most of the jobs we currently have won't exist.

This thinking is terrific and will create an exciting future for
people like me, but it needs to be extended to the mining industry.

When I'm a little older, I'd like to attend my local primary school
and high school in Aberdeen. Unfortunately, these schools already
receive dust from the Mount Arthur North and Bengalla open cut mines
and, unless your Department does something about it, they will also be
on the receiving end of the dust from the Mount Pleasant, Dartbrook,
Muswellbrook West and Manobalai open cuts. My parents feel like there
might already be enough dust in the air for me without adding any
more.

My family have lived in the Upper Hunter for more than six generations
and looking a little further into the future, I might even like to
stay here myself - it's the perfect distance from Sydney or Newcastle
for the kind of flexible workplaces that my generation will have.

One of the things that will help me decide whether I have a future in
this area though, is whether there is clean air and water and whether
I still see the fertile farmland that is here now.

Please make sure you consider people like me, who are too small to
have a say, when you make a decision on this proposal.

Kind regards
Adeline O'Connell

Peter Hodges - [email protected]
Re: Dartbrook Modification 7
Firstly I am not an anti mining person, I am just against greed,
stupidity, corruption and environmental vandalism on a grand scale.
The original Dartbrook mine was a failure. The mining process struck
more gas than first anticipated and far more water than first
calculated, resulting in the mine building more storage/evaporation
ponds to the west of the Dartbrook road. Eventually it was
closed/mothballed.
Why restart the mine? I suspect it is simply a ploy to obtain an
initial go ahead to recommence the underground mine, run into the same
old problems which lead to the first closure and then head back to the
government pleading for permission to open up the Kayuga lease as an
open cut mine utilising the existing Dartbrook infrastructure.
Otherwise the newly employed mineworkers would have to be sacked! In
terms of votes, it's a tactic which deliberately puts the state
government in an awkward position.
So what is my main concern?
It is the water. Having so many open cut mines crisscrossing the
Hunter Valley floor and corresponding hills (East/West and
North/South) is a recipe for disaster, long term irreversible
disaster. Most people think what you see in the river is what you get.
Wrong! A huge proportion of the water, unseen, moves through the
ground water systems towards the coast. A lot of this water is trapped
or moves through layers of geology, separated by impermeable rock,
mudstone and clay etc. If one wants to put down a bore to access
groundwater, licensing conditions usually stipulate the holes in the
bore liner are to only exist in relation to the targeted water source.
The liner cannot be holed randomly, up and down, as it many allow
inferior water sources to cross contaminate the targeted source.
Yet in the Hunter, we have all these mines digging down and smashing
all the geology in the process of mining. Geology in a lot of cases
containing high quality water, acid water, salty water and water
impregnated with heavy metals. The whole lot can be mixed and released
as a consequence of the mining processes. When we go back to a 1950's
or 1970's decades in terms of effective rainfall the mining industry
and related water courses are in for a shock! In the 70's we bogged
tractors on the gravel ridges as ridges themselves were so
waterlogged. It will happen again, even with the impacts of a changing
climate. When it does happen, not if, the contaminated water will
eventually hit our estuarine areas on the coast. Goodbye fish, prawns,
oysters etc. Ask BHP Billiton about their Brazil Samarco Mine Dam
stuff up! Killed 19 people and polluted a river, and that was only one
mine! How many mines do we now currently have in the Mid Hunter valley
or shouldn't I ask!
Like the Mt Pleasant proposal, the Dartbrook modification needs to go
back to the drawing board. Many years have passed since its initial
approval. Full Stop!
For the record I have worked in three underground mines and a mine
operated power station. Aberdare East Colliery. Liddell Colliery.
Liddell State Mine. Richmond Vale power generation.
Whilst a councillor for Scone Shire/Upper Hunter Shire for 13yrs I was
also Chairman of the Development and Environment Committee for the
full duration.
Also was the delegate for the UHSC on the Association of Mining
Related Councils.
I also was nominated by the NSW government to represent groundwater
users on the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority
chaired by Mr Wej Paradice.
Many thanks for the opportunity to have a say.
Peter Hodges
0419 122 810 or 0265 450477

The Secretary
NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure
GPO Box 39
Sydney NSW 2001

Dear Madam

We are writing to object to Dartbook Coal Mine and specifically to
Australian Pacific Coal's Dartbook Mine DA 231-7-2000 Modifications 2,
3, 4, 5 and 6 and DA 30/91 Modification 5 as well as the Dartbrook
Open Cut Mine that isn't addressed in this proposal.

The Hunter Valley has already been devastated by coal mining. My
parents farm now lies barren under the overburden hills of Mount
Arthur North and what was productive, fertile farmland along Denman
Road is unrecognisable.

We worked hard to build our own home - building everything from
scratch and hand watering more than 100 trees through many scorching
summers to get them established - only to have the Bengalla and Mount
Pleasant Proposals spring up on either side of us. The local community
fought hard against the Bengalla Mine, winning three times in Land and
Environment Court only to have then Planning Minister, Craig Knowles,
change the rules with the stroke of a pen so the mine could go ahead.
That home was recently pushed into a hole that sits under part of the
dam for the Mt Pleasant Open Cut.

We then moved to Aberdeen and again have worked hard to build our own
home and establish a productive farm, only to hear that Dartbrook
wants to reopen its underground operations and an accompanying,
opencut which is totally unsuited to this area and which will have
serious detrimental effects on local water and air quality and to the
health of the people.

Enough is enough. The Hunter Valley already has too many coal mines
polluting its air, gobbling up its farming land, putting pressure on
water supplies and generally spoiling the landscape that has been home
to our families for more than five generations.

We ask that you reject this proposal.

Sincerely
Larry and Cherry Hamson

I object to this application. The economic justification given for the
proposal simply does not stack up. The environmental impacts are also
either not explained, or are inadequately dealt with. For example, the
proponent concedes even on its limited analysis that there will be air
quality exceedances, which will impact Aberdeen. The proponents own
material also points to the only viable alternative for this mine
being as an open cut operation, which will have massive impacts, so
why should the community be put to through several applications when
that is the ultimate purpose.

I object to the Dartbrook Coal Mine and specifically to Australian
Pacific Coal's Dartbrook Mine DA 231-7-2000 Modifications 2, 3, 4, 5
and 6 and DA 30/91 Modification 5.

1. It is essential that this proposal be required to undergo community
consultation and a thorough environmental process including the issue
of Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs). It would
be unconscionable if key local stakeholders such as the Upper Hunter
Shire community and the Upper Hunter Shire Council, along with
agencies such as the Environmental Protection Authority and Hunter New
England Health, did not have an opportunity to provide input and
commentary to the SEARs.

2. Now that this mine is owned by a 'mining minnow' having been onsold
by a more experienced tier one mine (which clearly could see the
writing on the wall for this hopeless mining site), it is more
important than ever to ensure that this junior mine's proposal
undergoes detailed community consultation and a proper environmental
assessment process including the issue of SEARs.

3. After reading documents issued by Australian Pacific Coal to the
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and after looking at their company
website, it is my opinion that this proposal foreshadows a new open
cut coal mine which would be utterly unacceptable and disastrous for
the Upper Hunter community in terms of health, amenity, agricultural
industries, in fact life. I reiterate that the Department should
insist on a thorough joint environmental planning assessment for both
the underground extension and the open-cut mine with full community
consultation.

3. The proposed modification and the accompanying open-cut plans are
inconsistent with the vision for the region which is clearly expressed
in the Upper Hunter Shire Council Sustainability Action Plan
(2017-2021), and your own Department's Hunter Regional Plan 2036.

4. Given that the Upper Hunter Air Quality Network shows that the
annual PM2.5 benchmark has been exceeded every single year in
Muswellbrook (and Aberdeen as well) due to pollution from existing
mines, and given that the likely approval of the new Mount Pleasant
open cut mine notwithstanding the overwhelming community objection, I
am firmly of the view that the Upper Hunter does not have the capacity
to cope with yet another new mine without significantly compromising
the health of Upper Hunter Shire families.

5. The proposal poses an unacceptable risk to the Hunter River and its
water quality. In fact this proposal threatens the water supply for
the entire Hunter Valley.

6. The issues of gas and water that shut down Dartbrook mine in the
first place have not been resolved, and realistically will never be.

7. This proposed fossil fuel project ignores the science and evidence
of the climate emergency that we face today. This proposed fossil fuel
project highlights the cynicism and greed of Big Corpa. That human
lives will be at risk should this project be approved and that
politicians are familiar with this data leaves me at a complete loss
for words.

What about our children? Why does the fate of everybody's children not
concern our politicians?

Given the abundant evidence that we are all now privy to, any
government that approves such a project as the Dartbrook Coal Mine and
its Modifications is culpable of ecocide and associated social and
cultural devastation. To allow such a project is unconscionable. To
approve such a project does not meet our obligations to our future
generations.

The Upper Hunter is a spectacular part of Australia. It beggars belief
that any government would even for a moment consider ripping up yet
more of our beautiful country. Enough is enough.

I object to the Dartbrook Coal Mine and its proposed Modifications and
remind you again that the world no longer has an appetite for such
projects and already we are seeing litigation being commenced by young
people who recognise how their futures have been devastatingly
compromised by today's greedy politicians and multi-national
companies.

The era of the political economy is almost over, and its demise cannot
come a moment too soon. No responsible government would ever approve
such a project because a responsible government would know that by
doing so it would end up having blood on its hands.

Fossil fuels are finished, and governments which go along approving
projects such as the Dartbrook Mine proposal risk being accused of
being in collusion with Big Corpa to exact every last cent out of an
industry that is known to kill people, animals, plants and the planet.

I am a mother and a grandmother: if you approve the Dartbrook Coal
Mine and specifically to Australian Pacific Coal's Dartbrook Mine DA
231-7-2000 Modifications 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and DA 30/91 Modification 5,
you will be condemning my family, and my friends' families and Upper
Hunter Shire families to the perils of a worsening climate emergency
exacerbated in no small part by Australian politicians who wilfully
have chosen to ignore the science of climate change and evidence.

I object to the Dartbrook Coal Mine.
Kind regards,
Sue Abbott
-------------------------------------
Scone NSW 2337

Please see attached

I object to this mine proposal - it is quite clear the proponents are
speculative, have no regard for the community (have not consulted the
company I work for or the employees),
the lethal combination of gas, fire, flooding of previous mine never
been addressed.
the mothballed conveyer system is in disrepair.
this activity should not be given any consideration by government - it
is too high risk for the head of the Hunter River, location on top of
a community, cumulative impact of dust which is diabolical for
everyone - check the dust data for Friday 20 June 2018 - from
singleton up to Scone a thick haze and that is before mount pleasant
(another disgraceful approach to mining).

the proponent data does not stack up. Worse, the cost benefit to the
community is not addressed. An open cut mine is unthinkable travesty
to this region, This mine before you should not be assessed as an
"extension" or simply as an underground - it is sheer blatant
manipulation by mine company to exploit a weak planning system. This
project is not state significant except for Tinkler and private
investors who will flip it over. it is of no benefit to the community
- there is no medium to long term benefit. this will drive other
current sustainable industires out and further pollution of the
Hunter. Go an look at the Goulburn River at Denman, this is a
travesty.

Please see submission letter attached.

Please see attached letter of support.

Living within close proximity to the proposed Dartbrook open cut mine I
am extremely worried about the air quality, that will if the mine goes
ahead, make it almost impossible for people to live and work in this
area. We already have the effects of air quality from the mining
around Muswellbrook. As we see in Muswellbrook the mines do not bring
wealth and prosperity to our area as you only have to travel the New
England Highway at 5.30am between Muswellbrook and south of Singleton
to realise that most of the miners live in Maitland and Newcastle
areas, well away from the poor air quality in our area. As you can see
from my photo Muswellbrook covered in a layer of thick dust. We do not
want this over Aberdeen.

Please find our objection attached.

Please find my objection attached

Please acknowledge receipt of submission

The Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association objects to the Dartbrook
Modification 7. Submission Attached