Mod 6 - Expansion of Coal Mine

I support the extension as this is where i work and my livley hood

Dear Director

I strongly support Coal & Allied's Warkworth Modification to gain access to an additional 350m of land owned by the mine, to avoid significant drop in production and employment.

I am recently out of university and have started my carrer in the mining industry at MTW. I love the people I work with and the place I work.

It would be great shame to see a well established business with an extended history of employment and mining in the area, be so greatly reduced in size.

The Hunter valley as a whole is going through a rough period for employment opportunities, not gaining this approval would be saying goodbye to hundreds of jobs over the next couple of years and putting serious social and financial pressure on surrounding communities.

The Mine has the ability to operate without adversly affecting the nearly residents and environment.

Thankyou.

I would like to see the extension go through and no body lose their jobs.
I believe Rio Tinto play a big part in supporting the community and would like to see this continue with the approval of the extension at MTW

Certainty over the Warkworth Consent Modification is required for our jobs and our futures. Many families including families of contrators rely on Mount Thorley Wwarkworth. My family certainly does. The Planning process is hindering this certainty.
Approval of an additional 350 metres is critical to the future of Mount Thorley Warkworth.

I support this submission as it is an important to the local and National economy. MTW is a very important customer to our company and 40 staff based in the Hunter Valley. In an environment where there have been significant job cuts leading to an increase in unemployment, progress with this expansion is important to our local area.

I have been a Mining Supervisor at MTW for the past 2 years. I have worked at MTW for 5 years in total. This mine has provided security for my family and provided me with countless opportunities to develop my career and myself as a person.

As a leader, the uncertainty around the future of the mine has provided most of my team certain amounts of angst over the past few months. Everybody has a family to provide for and without assurance of a place to work - many people are distracted, which is taking away from their lives both at work, and at home.

If the extension is not approved, I will have to relocate myself, my wife and our son away from this wonderful community and look for further job opportunities in Queensland, Western Australia or overseas.

Please accept this submission in full support of the Warkworth Modification.

I am writing to express my concerns regarding the future of the Mount Thorley Warkworth (MTW) coal mine; specifically the Mod 6 extension application. I've been employed at the MTW coal mine for about two and a half years as a Business Improvement Specialist. My decision to join Rio Tinto's MTW mine was not made lightly, as prior to my current role I held a twenty year career in the Royal Australian Air Force. I discussed this career transition with my wife and children and we concluded that there were many MTW employees with decades of continuous employment, and that the mining industry would provide our family with the security that we required. Unfortunately the recent disapproval of MTW's expansion has resulted in not only an erosion of my employment stability, but has filled our family with months of unresolved uncertainty. We are hopeful that the Modification 6 extension application can be approved and normality can be restored to our families and the wider community.

I understand the concerns of our mine's near neighbours as I am a near neighbour of another (non Rio Tinto) coal mine. I see this mine's lights, hear its sounds and can see the constant changing visual amenity, but I understand that I live in a mining community. The employment of our 1300+ workers, the millions of dollars that MTW sends in the community and the livelihoods of hundreds of services providers is all at risk while this extension is being debated. The stress and uncertainty of the past months has been terrible for my family, my co-workers and myself. Unfortunately, I fear it will feel insignificant to the wider reaching communal adversity that will result from large job losses through the inability to extend our mine.

In the papers I read that this is a battle of the little man against the mining giant, but please understand that beneath this banner of Rio Tinto are many little men and women hanging on the government's decision. There are literally thousands of us that are hoping that our mine can progress and that normality will be restored to our families and our wider community.

Dear Minister,

I strongly support Coal & Allied's Warkworth Modification application to gain access to an additional 350m of land owned by the mine, to avoid a significant drop in production and employment.

I have been employed by the mine since 2011.

I have a young family, we reside in Singleton, renting a house through a local agent. We support the local community by utilsing the local schools and amenities in Singleton and we do all of our shopping in the local area.

Without the extension approval it is likely that I won't have a job and would have to move back to Sydney to find work.

Thousands of people depend on this mine and if production was to drop, the result will be devastating.

The Mine needs certainty for future signifcant investment decisions.

Please accept this submission in strong support of the Warkworth Modification.

Regards,

Very concerned employee from MTW

Dear Mr Hazzard,

I am writing in regard to the proposed modification to the Warkworth Coal Mine (Modification 6), and wish to voice my support for this project. I strongly encourage the swift approval of the project as described in the Environmental Assessment.

Coupled with the outcomes of the recent Land and Environment court judgment, the lengthy delays and stop start nature of the NSW Planning process has placed the Warkworth Mine in a precarious position, such that this proposed modification is the only avenue available to secure the employment of approximately 1300 employees, myself included.

The industry currently faces unprecedented levels of scrutiny from key regulatory agencies and an ever increasingly informed community, supported by a generally anti-mining media sector. Despite these pressures, the Warkworth mine continues to deliver leading practice environmental management, testament to the commitment of the company to operate in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. Numerous examples of leading practice management are outlined in the Environmental Assessment, and I ask the Minister to consider these leading practice measures when determining the outcome of the approval process in this instance.

In challenging economic times, the Planning authority should be doing all that it can to support the industry through robust assessment and prompt decision making. The recent changes to the Planning process are welcome and encouraging, and I urge the Minister to ensure the swift progression of the Warkworth proposed modification through that process, guaranteeing my employment and that of my 1300 colleagues.

Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,

I have work on this site for 6yrs and live locally and I feel this extension would be good for our economy and will secure mine and many other jobs for the area.

I support the MTW extension, I have a young family and this extension would my family a secure future

I object to the proposal .
In submitting this application, Coal & Allied are being disingenuous in the extreme.
They have selectively used data from noise & dust monitors that show favourable outcomes, whilst those of us who live in the district are constantly bombarded by excessive noise and dust. In addition, over the past year they have had a number of faulty blasts, one of which caused two workers from a neighbouring mine to be hospitalised and a number of others to require treatment by Paramedics!!
The area proposed to be mined is in the area already denied them by the NSW Land & Environment Court. Therefore I would assert that such an application is probably a Contempt of that Court. In my life if a Court says I can't do something, I just have to get on and not do it, but the Mine seems to think that it is above the Law.
There are a number of endangered ecological communities within this area, which although small, are important for the preservation of remnant woodland and species.
The Mine have offerred an offset to this area, just down the Road, however it is not "Like for Like". In his Judgement, the Chief Judge of the Land & Environment Court deemed that any offsets must be like for like otherwise they do not achieve the purpose of preserving these remnant sections of flora and fauna.
In 2003 the mine entered a Deed with the then Minister, setting this area aside as a Permanent Conservation Area, many local residents, including us, made life decisions based on this Deed, because the mine would not come closer to us. However the Mine deceitfully, never executed the deed and submitted the land for rezoning. Therefore we have been cheated by them.
As this Deed was one of the conditions of the 2003 approval, the mine must be held to account for this action, or lack of action.
In the statements the mine has made in support of its application, it has said that it needs this small piece of land to have an 'economical' strike length for its operations in this pit. Mining experts tell me that this is rubbiish - the strike length they have is sufficient for economic operation, but they want this bit so they can nibble away at the area denied by the Land & Environment Court .
Also in the notes for their application they say that they have communicated with the key stakeholders - an outright LIE. The local residents were informed by press release the day the Application was made public. A few were telephoned the night before, but NO mention was made of this intention at a Community Consultative Committee meeting held two weeks before. If the residents closest to the Mine are not amongst the key stakeholders, I wonder who is?
In his judgement in the Land & Environment Court, the Chief Judge made a point re noise and dust, he said words to the effect, "if the mine cannot manage noise and dust now what guarantee is there that they can in the future" and this is a key point. I understand that 800 odd noise complaints were made about the existing MTW operations in the last year and I know that we have been sitting at home, in our lounge room trying to watch TV, or converse normally and we can't because of noise from MTW. I also know that we sometimes just sigh and curse the Public Servants who do not enforce the NSW Industrial Noise Policy, rather than get up and make another complaint. To ensure some fairness to us I will ensure that we do in future complain to the relevant authority.
We know it is useless to complain to the Mine Hotline as they just deny that it is noisy, or dusty and take measurements from certain monitors or sites which confirm their claim, were they to actually come to our premises and take measurements they would find that they often exceed the allowable noise by more than 200% with. readings of up to 44db.
Also in their application , the mine is somewhat blackmailing the Government into approving this by saying it is critical to their continuing employment of up to 1300 miners. If this is the case, then the Management of Rio Tinto and Coal & Allied are responsible for this. It is their lack of forward planning, or proper mine planning that has led to this situation. In 2003 the approval was for them to mine so many Million Tonnes of Coal per Annum until 2021 - in the current footprint!!! what has happened in the meanwhile that makes this unviable? Poor planning is the obvious answer.. The people of Bulga must not be made to suffer because iof this and the Miners and Unions must accept that employment cuts are a result of this.
We all know that the world price of Coal has slumped, we also know that Rio Tinto and others in the industry have been reducing their workforces to keep their profitability at levels acceptable to their shareholders. No job is forever, particularly in this industry and it is inevitable that the manager will seek to hire cheaper contractors in place of miners who have enjoyed huge wages and excellent conditions in the last few years

I Support the MTW Extension My Family have always lived in this area, this extension will secure my employment and allow my family security to remain living in this area.

Dear Minister,

I support Coal & Allied's Warkworth Modification application to gain access to an additional 350m of land owned by the mine, to avoid a significant drop in production and employment.

Having worked for Coal & Allied for the past 4 years and seen first-hand how important the ongoing production is to ensuring employment for both mining personnel and communites alike.

The last 12 months has demonstrated how important mining is to not only the Hunter Valley economy, but also the NSW economy.

Mount Thorley Warkworth provides a stable income for over 1,300 full time employees in the Hunter Valley. And the operation of the mine reaches into many other businesses that supply MTW. Thousands of people depend on this mine and if production was to drop, the result could be devastating.

We need certainty. We've been wondering what the future holds now for four years. If this minor modification to an existing, 30 year old mine does not get approved, I am worried about what this will mean for local jobs and investment across the NSW mining industry.

Please accept this submission in support of the Warkworth Modification.

Regards

I am against more mining near us because of the health effects of mine dust.
Every day we get lots of dust from Mount Thorley Warkworth Mine and it is time it was stopped. When I grow up I don't want to have breathing problems because of Mine dust.
Local Doctors have told us at school that dust is hazardous to us and we have lots of dust.

I think we have enough mining in the Hunter Valley where I live, we get lots of dust and noise from Mines around us and it is not good for playing outside and sleeping.
My Dad says this is a bad mine, because it does not care about what people think or say and just runs over us.
I don't want to get sick from bad mines and this mine should stop.

My Daddy says this is a bad mine and it should not be able to keep being bad.
It makes lots of noise and dust which sometimes keeps me awake at night. I want it to stop.
We have another mine near us who are good, my Daddy says if we tell them they are bad they find another way.

I object very strongly to this proposal to extend the mine.
My relatives moved to the Hunter Valley in the 1840s and established a farm, which has supported families from then until now. Because of the huge wages paid to miners it is almost impossible to get workers around the farm and even in our small business in the district we are forced to pay very high wages to attract workers. If we don't pay these high wages they simply leave and go drive a truck in the mines for lots of money.
Equally it is very difficult to have work done at reasonable rates as other businesses are in the same boat & must pay these high wages to keep staff. This makes running our family business very challenging.
In addition, I moved my family Bulga in 2004, knowing that there was a Deed in place to protect this area from mining and to keep the Mount Thorley, Warkworth Mine at a reasonable distance from us, behind Saddleback Ridge. It now seems that they have just cast that Deed aside in the quest for quick profits. No thought to the residents of Bulga who relied on the deed, or family men like me who took it as given that the mine would not come closer that Saddleback Ridge. Now it seems that it is OK to just nibble away at the Ridge until it is destroyed and providing no protection from Noise and Dust..
The area proposed to be mined is included in the Area denied by the NSW Land and Environment Court in 2013. The Court found that there were significant holes in the Mines application then, particularly on the environmental and social impact of that expansion and, if carefully read, there are a lot of holes in this submission as well.
For example, Noise - the mine has quoted data from one particular monitor, which we in Bulga regard as a joke, as it is in the wrong place. If readings were included from the Barn Owls at Inlet Road and Wollemi Peak Rd, there would be a different story. These monitors show fairly continuous breaches of their noise consent conditions, particularly at night. There have been many nights when the noise from MTW operation has kept my kids awake and then gone on to keep my Wife and I awake as well, or even been loud enough to wake us up from a sound sleep. As Justice Preston found in the Land and Environment Court, if they can't keep it within their consent now, how can we expect it to be Ok in the future?
I also don't want my children to be subjected to the dust exceedences that occur regularly from this mine, and the bad explosions which happened at least twice last year and more the year before, A local Lady had to be hospitalised after driving through he product of one blast and the Police, Ambulance and Fire Brigade were called to an adjoining mine where two employees were taken to Hospital and a number of others treated on scene for breathing difficulties.
This is a Mine which seems to believe it can ride roughshod over the Community and not be accountable. They have had no community consultation about this new plan, they deny they breach their consent conditions on noise, dust, rehabilitation etc., and yet they want to mine closer to the village !!!
I know that the Mine are encouraging their employees to submit comments of approval for this proposal, however in reading them please consider that over 60% of their employees do not live in the Singleton LGA, and of the 40% who do, only 5 are known to live in or near the village of Bulga. Sure it is fine for folk who live in Singleton, over 16 Kms away from this proposed extension, to say they approve of it, that don't have to live with it 24 hours per day 7 days a week - it is only on rare occasions that the Town & eastern suburbs of Singleton have a problem with noise and dust, In Bulga we live with it all the time.
Of course a miner, who is paid huge wages for doing their job, would say he wants to continue at it, that is natural. But consider the social cost to the wider community of their high wages and their mining activities. Higher prices in the town supermarkets because rich miners can pay, higher costs to businesses for services and the moonscape we face as we drive around the district.
I read in the papers that the MD of Rio Tinto has said if this approval does not go through, then the jobs of 1300 employees are at risk - this threat is unconscionable in the light of the fact that he did not consider the matter important enough to discuss it with the people of Bulga, the Singleton Council, or even their own Community CONSULTATIVE Committee - one wonders if they understand the word 'Consultative'
If it were me and the project was so important and would result in such a large loss of jobs, I would ensure that I spoke to all the stakeholders, that each of the people most effected had a clear understanding of the apparent importance of the project and that the community were at least informed. This did not happen and even just on those grounds alone the consideration of the project should be delayed to allow proper consultation with the community of Bulga and that any necessary modifications to the proposal be made before consideration by the Department and the PAC.
I reiterate I object most strongly to the modification as proposed.

I support the warkworth proposal. Mining provides a positive input to the local and state coffers.

As a wife of an employee we do know how important is to keep these jobs for the families and the community.

I support Warkworth mine in this modification application to extent the project and take 350 m of land as per the plans.

This will translate in jobs, production and ultimately progress for the Hunter economy.

Regards,

Sissy fernandez