Warkworth Coal Mine Continuation

I have a wife and 4 kids. We rely on my income to support our family. I am the only income provider. Without the lease extension being approved I could be forced to relocate back to Sydney for employment. The future would look very uncertain for my young family.

I am 25 years old. Have been working at MTW for 6 years. I have recently built my first home and my repayments on the home rely on my employment at MTW. When I first started here the mine was said to have 30 years life left and with that in mind was where I wanted to set myself up and become a long term employee with prospects of even retirement at MTW. I want long term stability in my workforce so that it helps provide to my family and not only sets me up but sets them up for a stable future. If the mine was not to get the extension I believe I would find it hard to find another job as beneficial as this one in the current environment.

I have a family to support so job security is important to me and my work colleagues. It is also important for the economy throughout the hunter valley. Without the extension being approved I may have to move away from the hunter valley to gain employment.

Being married and having a family of 2 on a single income, the rejection of the lease extension would greatly affect myself and my family as my employment is my families only income. Finding another job in the current climate would be very difficult as I am of a higher age group. Also this mine just doesn't affect me but hundreds of other people who rely on this industry to support their families as well.

I have a wife and 3 kids. This extension would provide me with an income up until retirement age as I have 20 years plus left in the industry. The income I derive from the mine is spent mainly in the local community with local retailers and suppliers. My 3 kids are all settled in local schools and any change in employment would mean uprooting my family and moving in search of employment.

I work in the mining industry and I and my family depend on a strong and growing mining industry. Whilst I live in Queensland, over half my work and income comes out of NSW. I lived in Singleton town for a while and believe Mining will play a significant role in economy of the area.

I support the Warkworth Continuation Project, as it's work in the hunter region is respected and keep at high standard.

MTW employees local people and holds a major support network in the hunter region for the supply of its equipment and maintenance in the running of the pit. It also supports local clubs and organisations through donations and fundraisers.

The closure of this pit will not only affect the employees of MTW but all the support business around the region will close up as it main supplier is no longer running.

The housing market, already effected by family's leaving to find work from layoffs at other pits and there support business, I don't wish for another 1300 family (MTW employees) and the business supporting mining workers whom will be sacked, to sell up and leave. This will leave the hunter houses with for-sales everywhere, infrastructure will stop and the region will become a ghost town. As the workers will go where jobs are available and supported. This will be felt from the Mussellbrook area right through to Port Waratah coal loader area.

I support the Warkworth Continuation Project application to allow us to continue operating on land owned by the mine, in the existing footprint of our mining lease. Failure to grant approval will result in a significant drop in production and employment.
I started at Mt Thorley Warkworth (MTW) as a mining operator & have progressed into a leadership role. During my 14 years at MTW I have watched the Mine develop & become more sensitive to the needs of the local community & regulators. This has at times had a negative impact on production & increased costs which MTW has accepted as the way of the future with a commitment of striving for best practice in all areas.
Mount Thorley Warkworth provides a stable income for over 1,300 full time employees in the Hunter Valley. MTW also provides allot of business to the local & surrounding communities. Having lived in the local area all my life it's quite visible how the current impact of the downturn in the mining industry is being felt within the local & surrounding areas, local businesses are closing.
Many businesses & thousands of people are depended on this mine, without it the result could be devastating.
We all need certainty. We've been wondering what the future holds for nearly 5 years. I am worried about the future for my family & about what this will mean for local jobs and investment across the NSW mining industry. Mining & local communities need to continue working together.

Please accept this submission in support of the Warkworth Continuation Project.

Large operations like MTW provide significant economic benefit t nearby communities as well as the whole newcastle region.

I support the job creation mining generates in the Hunter.

I have witnessed personally the lengths the mine goes to to manage the business in a sustainable manner environmentally, socially and economically.

I believe it is a disgrace that the business met all planning requirements at state and federal level at considerable cost, and achieved regualtory signoff at each level of the planning process by a significant number of informed individuals, to have it al overturned by a single individual on appeal.

I fully endorse this proposal going ahead. There are many jobs and business depending on this approval.

Any rejection of this development is blow to employment, economic development and the social fabric of the Hunter Valley let alone Singleton, continued of the major employers will drive unemployment up and lead to more families leaving the area or moving onto social benifits.

I support the Warkworth Continuation Project. Mount Thorley Warkworth Mine is an environmental and community conscious operation that supports more than 1300 workers and their families as well as over 600 NSW businesses. The approval of the Warkworth Continuation will enable Mount Thorley Warkworth Mine to continue to supply valuable jobs and income to the Hunter Valley into the future.

From a socio-economic perspective, it would be a severe blow to the regions future if the extension proposal was to be rejected, leading to the closure of the mine.

the mine extension is needed in this are for the local comunity and my family to be able to survive. i have been working at the mine for 7 years now and my young family depend on the mine to survive. i think it a joke that the bulga community are the ones who have complained so hard and campaigned against this extension yet over 85% of there villiage work here at the mine or are in industry that supports mining. its a joke. its also a select few who ring the mine with noise complaints and dust complaints over and over again, when many calls have been made there has been no macdhinery operating.
this does not just effect the miner and his immediate family it runs right down to the grocery store, pubs, schools who will suffer due to people moving away from the area.

The mining industry supports so many industries, time we stood behind them

I work at MTW and believe it has a strong future and would like to see the extention go ahead. And suport the local comunity.

I have worked in the mining industry since 2002. I have been employed at Mt Thorley Warkworth Mine since 2008 as a mobile equipment operator. I came to the Hunter Valley for the lifestyle and the expected longevity of the Mt Thorley Warkworth mine. I expected to see myself into retirement in this job. If this Mt Thorley Warkworth continuation project does not go through I will leave the area to continue working in the mining industry. The effect on the broader community with so many people leaving the region will be catastrophic.
The uncertainty of not knowing if we will have jobs next years is playing highly on the morale of all employees at MTW at the moment. Job loses will have a devastating effect on some of my colleagues with families to support and it's is causing them a lot of stress. I support the Mt Thorley Warkworth Continuation Project going ahead.

I have lived in the local community of Singleton for 20 years and have got family who have worked in mines in the Hunter Valley and have supported their families. I have worked at Mount Thorley since the end of 2008 as an operator/trainer, with my wife working also in Singleton in a business that is also affected by the mining industry.
The uncertainty of the future of the mine adds stress not only to 1300 employees but to the whole community including small businesses and the morale in the mine site has dropped considerably also. If there was any way this process could be pushed forward would help out a lot of people considerably.

I hope we get extension,so we can keep our jobs,and community's like singleton can only benefit from this