Warkworth Coal Mine Continuation

I support the continuation of MTW.

I support the warkworth project. Our community needs the jobs. It gives people a secure future for them and their families.

Provides jobs and financial security for the community.

Provides job security and financial security for the local community.

Provides jobs for our local area.

I agree with the application for the extension so they can maintain employment and the employees can maintain some stability for their family.

I support the continuation of MTW.

I am a Mining Supervisor at MTW. My wife and I have recently welcomed our second child into the world. Working at MTW allows me to provide for my wife and two children. MTW has assisted me to grow both professionally and personally since I have worked with the business - first beginning as graduate surveyor and now a successful frontline leader with an OCE ticket.

I support this application fully. The greater Hunter and Newcastle region relies on mines like MTW to support the lives of those families who provide products and services to the mining industry.

This is a submission against both the Warkworth (SSD 6464) and Mt Thorley (SSD 6465) Continuation Projects.

The NSW Land and Environment Court ruled in April 2013 that expanding the Warkworth coal mine would do the NSW public more harm than good. Judge Preston found that the information used by Rio Tinto and NSW Planning in support of the project was wrong, and he overturned the approval.

When Rio Tinto and the NSW Government appealed that decision to the NSW Supreme Court (Court of Appeal), they lost. Two superior NSW courts have now ruled that Rio's plan to expand the Warkworth coal mine fails on merit.

The Bulga people and their many supporters justly assumed that this would be the end of the project. Instead, Rio Tinto have simply resubmitted their mining application. It has been split in two, and the name updated, but these two projects (SSD 6464 and SSD 6465) are effectively the same project that has been rejected by two NSW courts (MP 09_0202).

That the Planning Department has even accepted Rio Tinto's application is a failure of procedural fairness, and makes a farce of the very process you are now asking us, the public, to participate in. We are being asked to make submissions on a project that has already been through this very same assessment process and failed - only to be resubmitted. We are being asked to submit to a process overseen by a Department that is clearly working closely with the proponent to get the project approved, and which got the decision wrong the first time around. There can be no faith in this process.

The Department must respect the decisions of the NSW Land and Environment Court, and the NSW Supreme Court (Court of Appeal), and reject these applications.

I support the continuation of MTW.

BDM Resources is a small Hunter Valley mining environmental services company that relies on the mining industry for its livelihood. We employ 5 people with families that are reliant on a strong mining industry to maintain their employment.

I personally worked at Warkworth Opencut from 1987 to 1990. It was then and still is a good place to work that looks after its employees and the surrounding community.

It has been a good employer and responsible corporate citizen for 4 decades and should be granted the modification.

With the mining industry already struggling with many workers already made redundant it would be beneficial for workers / families, local businesses to keep as many local people in employment. Being also a local business owner, we are seeing the effects of an already struggling to maintain employment for the employees we have employed with us as families are not spending money. So to extend life into an already established min is to us a necessity that has to happen or it will not be just the thousand or more workers from MTW out of jobs but the many external workers that work for businesses that thrive on these families and their money they spend to be able to maintain their jobs.

I support the application for continuation which is about securing a long term future for Mount Thorley Warkworth (MTW) mine, its 1300 workers, and the local community.
MTW is not seeking anything other than approval to continue operating on land it currently owns and within the foot print of its existing mining leases so that we can maintain current production and employment levels beyond 2015.
MTW has been part of the Singleton community for 30 years. As well as providing direct jobs for 1300 locals, many millions of dollars are also spent with local businesses. In 2013 alone, MTW spent $188 million with more than 230 suppliers in the Upper Hunter and $335 million with more than 600 New South Wales suppliers.
Of course, it is not just the direct jobs and supplier spend that will be impacted. MTW is committed to the community and environment in which it operates. Our commitments include:
* A range of comprehensive training and employment programmes to the value of more than $1.7 million per year for the life of consents aimed at Upper Hunter's youth including:
o Five new apprenticeship positions each year,
o In partnership with Newcastle University, supporting two Aboriginal students a year with a scholarship programme and vacation employment to complete their degrees,
o Two graduation positions over two years across various mining operations at site, and
o Two vacation work programme positions across various mining operations.
* Offering voluntary acquisition to those residents who were granted acquisition rights under the Warkworth Extension 2012 planning approval.
* Making regular and consistent information available on the internet, to show environmental noise and air quality monitoring data and management measures.
* Working with the Singleton Council to reach a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) that will provide significant benefits for people across the Singleton community.
* Completing the noise attenuation of all diesel powered heavy mining equipment by the end of 2016.
* $4 million over five years towards a significant regeneration programme to increase the size of the endangered Warkworth Sands Woodlands and ironbark ecological communities that currently exists.
* An offer to provide more than 1800ha of land towards a National Park in the Upper Hunter, in addition to a larger offsets package to secure significant biodiversity offsets in perpetuity. This larger package includes offsets of more than 1000ha and undertaking rehabilitation to 2100ha of mine site land.

The coal industry continues to face significant challenges, and mines without a strong future are being shut down. The impacts of these closures are already being felt across local communities. This continuation will support the strong future of MTW and its workforce.

I support the continuation of MTW.

I support the application for continuation which is about securing a long term future for Mount Thorley Warkworth (MTW) mine, its 1300 workers, and the local community.
MTW is not seeking anything other than approval to continue operating on land it currently owns and within the foot print of its existing mining leases so that we can maintain current production and employment levels beyond 2015.
MTW has been part of the Singleton community for 30 years. As well as providing direct jobs for 1300 locals, many millions of dollars are also spent with local businesses. In 2013 alone, MTW spent $188 million with more than 230 suppliers in the Upper Hunter and $335 million with more than 600 New South Wales suppliers.
Of course, it is not just the direct jobs and supplier spend that will be impacted. MTW is committed to the community and environment in which it operates. Our commitments include:
* A range of comprehensive training and employment programmes to the value of more than $1.7 million per year for the life of consents aimed at Upper Hunter's youth including:
o Five new apprenticeship positions each year,
o In partnership with Newcastle University, supporting two Aboriginal students a year with a scholarship programme and vacation employment to complete their degrees,
o Two graduation positions over two years across various mining operations at site, and
o Two vacation work programme positions across various mining operations.
* Offering voluntary acquisition to those residents who were granted acquisition rights under the Warkworth Extension 2012 planning approval.
* Making regular and consistent information available on the internet, to show environmental noise and air quality monitoring data and management measures.
* Working with the Singleton Council to reach a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) that will provide significant benefits for people across the Singleton community.
* Completing the noise attenuation of all diesel powered heavy mining equipment by the end of 2016.
* $4 million over five years towards a significant regeneration programme to increase the size of the endangered Warkworth Sands Woodlands and ironbark ecological communities that currently exists.
* An offer to provide more than 1800ha of land towards a National Park in the Upper Hunter, in addition to a larger offsets package to secure significant biodiversity offsets in perpetuity. This larger package includes offsets of more than 1000ha and undertaking rehabilitation to 2100ha of mine site land.

The coal industry continues to face significant challenges, and mines without a strong future are being shut down. The impacts of these closures are already being felt across local communities. This continuation will support the strong future of MTW and its workforce.

I support the continuation of MTW.

The continuation of this mine is not only beneficial to the upper hunter region it touches the lives of people Australia-wide. Without this asset we are going backwards.

Both my mum and dad work in the Hunter Valley. Dad at MTW and mum at HVO. I currently work at the mines doing cleaning. We have made Singleton our home. My family are here, my friends are here. Where will we go if MTW closes my dad's job? What will happen to my job? We are really worried about our future.

I support the Warkworth continuation as it provides the hunter valley area with jobs and provides the community with money and sustainability.

There have been too many jobs lost in the Hunter Valley already.