The times they are a changin’

Newstan Colliery pumped Hydro trial gets the nod and Centennial Coal’s closed Fassifern coal mine could be converted into a pumped hydro energy storage facility, with funding announced to undertake a technical feasibility study.

Works at the underground Fassifern coal mine ceased in 2014 after 125 years of operation, leaving a grid connection and excavated voids that could store water as part of a pumped hydro system. An open mine pit at ground level and void near the surface that could be repurposed as an upper reservoir, with a deep cavern at the coal seam acting as the lower reservoir.

Pumped hydro is seen as a key technology to provide the energy storage needed to support a future electricity system with more renewable energy.

Reusing the Newstan Colliery’s existing underground mine and site infrastructure is expected to reduce the cost of establishing a pumped hydro system and provide a blueprint for the development of other brownfield sites.

This project will explore the potential to utilise Centennial’s existing assets of land, geographic proximity to infrastructure, gas and underground mining voids to provide large scale energy storage and dispatchable generation in the future.

Image by hangela from Pixabay

Centennial Coal’s Myuna Coal Mine - Modification 2 proposal

Centennial Coal’s Myuna Coal Mine - Modification 2 proposal aims to haul 1million tonnes of coal/year along Wangi and Wilton Roads as the proposed route between Myuna Colliery and Cooranbong Entry Site. The proposal is on exhibition until 27 Aug.

Greg Piper MP has created an e-petition which states “NSW Planning will soon consider an application by Centennial Coal to truck one million tonnes of coal per year over busy public roads in western Lake Macquarie. This will create 62,400 truck movements a year, or one every three minutes during the specified times of operation. This must not be allowed to happen.”

There are two ways to make a comment.

1. Sign the e-petition put forward by Greg Piper MP -Stop Centennial Coal putting 62,000 coal trucks a year on public roads in Western Lake Macquarie

which requests the Minister for Planning and Legislative Assembly to:

• Reject Centennial Coal’s application to move a million tonnes of coal a year over public roads in Lake Macquarie;

• Ensure that future applications to allow coal haulage on public roads in Lake Macquarie are rejected, except for when there may be an emergency short-term need to provide ongoing power generation.

Petition link:https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/pages/epetitions-list.aspx

2. Make a Submission to the NSW Government's Major projects portal. You have to create an account, which is easy and then there’s a space for comments or you can just tick a box. 

https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/project/35026

From the Myuna colliery Modification report

Is dilution the solution to pollution?

Newstan’s coal handling and preparation plant is set to expand to handle coal from Mandalong (2 million tonnes/year) and Awaba (800,000 tonnes/year) and a reopened Newstan, totaling 4 million tonnes/year. 

To accommodate the expansion, requests to Dept. Environment Climate Change & Water (DECCW) have been made to expand the pollution control dam from 16 to 50 Megalitres, relocate the discharge point and increase the volume of the discharge from 7 to 11Megalitres/day and 14ML during prolonged and intense rain events.

There are community concerns that the washery waters from the coal handling will end up in LT Creek with peak flood events utilised to pump the holding ponds out dispersing the holding waters further into the lake than just Fennell Edmonds Bay.

Centennial has refused to make a copy of the Water Management Plan available for review by the community. There has been no mention of any hydrological study or its purpose to the Community Consultative Committee (CCC). 

If you are concerned about the proposed increase in discharge levels into LT Creek and lack of community consultation urge the Dept. Environment Climate Change & Water to contain pollution into LT Creek to a level no greater than the existing permitted level  by installing and utilising established technologies for the removal of oil and grease as well as total suspended solids from water. 

Email  mark.hartwell@environment.nsw.gov.au 

For more info contact Paul Moors moors@aapt.net.au the CCC community representative on the CCC.

Centennial Coal Myuna Extension Application

Centennial Coal is applying under Part3A to extend its mining operations under the Lake and under some residential areas of Buttaba, Morisset Peninsula and  the tip of Coal Point.

A Centennial Update in The Lakes Mail newspaper, alerted the eagle eyed however the article didn’t seem to cover what was actually proposed, so here’s a snippet from the Preliminary Environmental Assessment which can be found at http://www.centennialcoal.com.au/images/stories/pdfs/content/operations/Myuna_Colliery_Preliminary_Environmental_Assessment.pdf
 
The Executive Summary states the proposed Project seeks approval for:

• An extension of mining at Myuna Colliery using bord and pillar methods
• A life mine of 21 years
• An increase in Run Of Mine coal production up to 2 million tonnes /yr

The proposed Project will continue to utilise bord and pillar methods (incorporating partial pillar extraction) from up to three seams within two identified zones:

• Zone A – Long term stable mining systems generating < 20 mm surface subsidence (i.e. no noticeable surface impacts) on sensitive surface features including land and seagrass beds; and
• Zone B – Mining systems generating up to a maximum of 650 mm surface subsidence (under Lake Macquarie).

For a chat contact the Environment and Community Coordinator:
Email: catherine.whatson@centennialcoal.com.au 
Myuna community information and complaints line: (02) 4970 0263