Mandalong Mine Extension

This extension will help secure the future of jobs that are important to family.
This mine has a good environmental history.
This extension has been planned for minimal structural subsidence.

centennial mandalong has a proven track record of sustainable mining over many years and have proven to be good corporate and enviromental citizens. this extention will not only provide continued employment of well over 300 people and support the lifestyles of their families but also flow on to the broader community. not to mention helping to keep the lights on in nsw and in fact will have less of an impact than a comparable size greenfeild development. thank you in advance for a positive outcome for this project

I am a Mineworker at the Mandalong Mine. Mandalong Mine not only employs workers at the Mine but also supports the community by creating business for the surrounding the community. Mandalong Mine supplys coal for not only export but also to the surrounding power stations close by. As a consumer of electricity I want to make an effort to keep the cost electricity down - The infrastructure for supplying coal to the local power stations exists already and surely would be the cost-effective way to keep costs of coal supply to a minimum.

I wish to support the Mandalong Mine Southern Extension. Mandalong Mine is concerned with the environmentally, sustainable and economic extraction of coal from underground.

The Mine supports the local community in many ways, through community sponsorship, employment of approx 400 people (including contractors) and supportin local businesses. Recently Mandalong sponsered my NSW RFS Brigade for new equipment.

If the mine was to close, I (and others) would likely be forced to relocate to another coal mining area given the current economic climate which would have a large impact on the community given the money spent in the local community.

The company and mine has a good history of being environmentally sustainable and this high standard should continue.

I support the extension of Mandalong Mine

My family and I strongly support the Mandalong South extension project. The proposed extension will extend the lifespan of Mandalong Mine until 2035 therefore securing employment for the hundreds of workers and also support to the many contractors and companies which directly benefit from the mine.

Mandalong Mine contributes millions of dollars each year to the local community from wages paid to workers, and the state of NSW also benefits from royalty payments. Mandalong Mine and its workers contribute greatly to local charities and sporting clubs, such as the Westpac Helicopter and Movember just to name a few.

If the extension were to be rejected, then hundreds of workers would be laid off, impacting families and communities from Lake Macquarie, Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.

I urge you to support this project for the benefit of the Hunter Valley and NSW.

Mitchell Wells

I support the submission to extend Mandalong mine as this will continue to maintain employment in our local area. Mandalong collaborates well with the community and this has helped to ensure minimal impact on the local area. From its inception Mandalong has maintained a high level of community contact and monitoring of the environment. As a wife of a miner I have been extremely grateful to Mandalong for its family friendly work conditions, we have four sons, one with a disability and have experienced many extended family challenges and the company has always been very supportive when my husband has needed to take time off.

I work at Centennial Coal Mandalong and think the southern extension would be great for the community. It employs around 400 people, who all live in the surrounding area and spend their wages at local supermarkets, hairdressers, mechanics, the list goes on. It is unrealistic to expect every person to spend their entire wage within the community, but a significant portion of a week's wages would.
Mandalong has an excellent environment program and does not impact heavily on the environment or community; the southern extension will keep the same high standards of environmental impact. Subsidence is highly monitored and minimised by the mines design, dust is low due to the underground nature of the mine and noise is controlled by restrictions on machine movements.
Over all I personally think the mine, and the extension, is good for the community and surrounding area, as well as the state due to royalties, while maintaining a small environmental footprint.

I herby support all aspects of Mandalong Community Associations submission.

I support local jobs for local people, and the mine extension will provide for this

I support the southern extension of mandalong mine, not only has the impact of mandalong mine been VERY minimal to date but it is a major employer with over 300 employees on site and at least the same amount of people in various other jobs that are depending on this extension to secure there future employment.

As a resident of Lake Macquarie I support this application on the grounds it provides full time employment for over 400 people. As well as supporting numerous local contract & suppliers.
It has a very low environmental impact on surrounding areas.
It also employs local youth as apprentices which is very important if we are to have trades people in the future.

Guarantee jobs for mineworkers.
Support local community.
Support local business.
Support subsidiary industries.
Royalties to NSW Government.

I am an employed at Centennial Mandalong as a mining supervisor(deputy) and see first hand the lengths the organisation goes to, to ensure compliance with the Health and Safety Management System in place, including, Environmental Management (including Surface subsidence and surface water management) of which Mandalong Mine has over time built an excellent record.
I am married with 5 children, with their currant education ranging from Primary school to University of which my wife and I work to enable our children this education, my taxes paid through my employment at Mandalong enable our state/ federal governments the ability to supply teachers, police, ambulance,fire brigades and other essential services to NSW
My children also participate in swimming, nippers, athletics, netball ,golf and oz tag all of which provides for a healthy and active lifestyle,this would be difficult to afford without my employment at Mandalong Mine.
The Mandalong South extension will see the future of Mandalong Mine increase through to 2035, this will enable me the opportunity to raise my children in our existing area, continue to attend there present schools, attend our local swimming clubs, continue to be members of local teams/clubs including voluntary patrols for our local surf club and the monies that I earn will continue to be injected back into the local community.

My family and I live immediately to the west of the existing access to the proposed Mandalong South Surface Site (as per photograph 6, page 23 of the MLS EIS Appendix 5 - Traffic Impact Asseeement) on Mandalong Road.To minimise the impacts of noise (both during and post construction) and visual amenity, I would prefer that the formal access and road be constructed further to the north east of the existing site access towards the boundary of the southern extension area.

I wish to give my support to the Mandalong south extension for the following reasons. The Mandalong mine employs some 300+ employees and will continue to do so if this extension is granted, this in turn allows the supporting of employment for the surrounding and supporting businesses in our area and helps to support the local economy.

Centennial Mandalong has been operating for some years now with minimal to no environmental impact or damage to the area and remain committed to continue this into the future. Mandalong is also a valuable supplier of coal to our local power stations which may have to source coal from other suppliers if this extension is not granted.

In closing, Centennial Mandalong not only provides valuable employment for the local community, supplies coal to our local power stations and is committed to the environment it also supports local community sporting teams and events and is an asset to many lake Macquarie, central coast and hunter communities. I fully support the application and look forward to many more years of employment at Centennial Mandalong.

I wish to support the Mandalong Community Submission written by Marton Marosszeky .

As an employee of Mandalong Mine, the approval or rejection of the Southern Extension is extremely important to me. In this time of major uncertainty in the mining sector, a degree of employment security that would come with the approval of the Southern Extension would mean that my family & I can continue to live in this area without having to be either unemployed or looking for work outside the area or the state.
Without the approval of the Extension, the mine will close in 2018, leaving aproximately 400 direct employees out of work & countless businesses & support industries with reduced incomes. Currently all the employees of Mandalong Mine will be spending their incomes in the greater community, which, along with all the employees of support businesses, will contribute greatly to the economy of the greater community around the mine.
Mandalong Mine, like all mines in NSW, pay royalties & the employees pay their taxes. Without approval for the Southern Extension, these monies will be gone from the State Treasury which will impact heavily on the ability to maintain roads, build hospitals, provide for schools etc.
On an environmental front, Mandalong has always been an extremely dilligent member of the community with an excellent record of environmental management. The Southern Extension Project will only continue to maintain the already high standards that are exhibited by the current Mine.
In conclusion, I would like to see this Extension Project approved as it will continue to bring positive inputs to the local community, the State & Australia.

I wish to tender this submission in favour of the proposed Mandalong Southern Extension Project . The approval of this project would secure the future employment of a large permanent workforce and also a smaller casual contract workforce . There would be a substantial flow on effect for the local community and engineering / mining companies across the Hunter and some further afield . Although I only have a few years till retirement and the approval / rejection of this proposal may not affect me , it will however affect my son who is employed by Centennial Mandalong and my wife who is employed by a lower Hunter engineering company which supplies a substantial amount of equipment to the Mandalong mine .

I am the longest serving staff member at Mandalong Mine. I started employment in the Coal Industry on 14/01/1985 at Cooranbong Colliery which joins Mandalong Mine underground, as a trainee Mine Surveyor, and am writing this submission in support of the Mandalong South Project.
During the almost 3 decades that I have worked in the coal industry, I have witnessed a lot of change in the key areas of safety, environment and legislative compliance. These have all been positive changes.
No longer can we accept that employees are injured at work as they are employed in a dangerous industry. Everyone at Mandalong Mine is focused on the safe production of coal and are proactive with workplace safety.
In part of my role as the projects surveyor, I work closely with the environmental team, being involved with the constant improvements to the mine's surface water management and noise compliance. The mine has further tried to reduce it's environmental foot print, by constructing a trial VAM RAB plant, that converts the mine fan emissions of low concentrations of methane into less harmful carbon dioxide. Also Mandalong Mine has tried to reduce the volume of inseam methane gas that is vented to atmosphere through the mine ventilation fans, by drilling gas drainage boreholes within the coal seam. This methane is currently being burnt off at a purpose built surface facility, with plans to install a power generation unit in the near future.
I am proud of my role as project manager for exploration drilling at Mandalong Mine. The mine is undertaking a drilling program to prove the location of an igneous sill which will define the limit of the minable coal resource and will continue in 2014. The Department of Planning recently conducted a 3 yearly audit of our mines operation. The audit found no non compliances in relation to exploration drilling. The mine spent 1.2m last financial year conducting this drilling program which directly employed 4 drillers and countless subcontractors.
My main role at Mandalong Mine is the measurement of mine subsidence. The mine uses an innovative mine design that minimises the effects of mining on the surface. Voussoir Beam Theory is based on civil engineering design and was adapted to the geotechnical design of the longwall blocks used at Mandalong Mine. The mine extracts up to 4.8m of coal with little of this mining void transferred to the surface topography as the Munmorah Conglomerate unit that lies approximately 70m above the coal seam, spans across the pillars either side of the longwall void. This conglomerate "bends" rather than breaks and so the mine subsidence has no relationship to the extracted void height, rather it is a function of the beam sag, maingate Pillar loading, and floor compression. Contrary to popular belief, subsidence doesn't cause damage to surface structures, it is the tilts and stains that are associated with this movement that does. The maingate pillars absorb half of the total vertical movement due to loading from the extracted void. This reduces the differential subsidence between subsequent longwall blocks, which in turn significantly reduces the tilts and strains on the surface, minimising the effects of mining on surface structures.
I live only 20 minutes from the mine site. My wife also works at the local hospital as a registered nurse. I have lived in this community for almost 50 years and am proud to be a third generation coal miner, both of my grandfathers were coal miners, and my father was also a coal miner. Both my wife and myself spend our wages locally which benefits the whole community.
I feel the continuation of Mandalong Mine into the new exploration area, will not only guarantee the employment of its existing workers but also the many local support contractors who rely on the mine for work. The whole state will also benefit from the continuation of Mandalong Ming through payrole taxes, employees personal taxes and mining royalties.
I hope that the NSW government will approve the granting of a Coal Mining Lease over the Mandalong South Exploration Area, for the benefit of all of the people who live in the community where it operates.

As an apprentice this extension to Centennial Mandalong will forward my career till 2035, instead of 2018 which it stands now. This extension will be beneficial to myself but mainly to my family as i am there source of income. If this extension doesn't get approved i would be one without a job and two trying to support myself and or family on next to nothing offered by the government. Another beneficial factor for this extension to get approved is for my local businesses where my wages go to in trying to support myself and my family.