A major coalmining operation has been fined $150,000 for damaging sandstone rock formations in New South Wales, some of which are estimated to be millions of years old.
The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) has fined Centennial Coal’s Mount Airly operation after an investigation found the sandstone formations had been cracked and damaged by the mine.
“Following an investigation by our compliance officers, we have determined the breaches are unacceptable,” a DPIE spokesperson said.
The independent investigation found 15 surface cracks in the Mugii Murum-Ban State Conservation Area, the biggest of which was 250 metres long.
Centennial Coal has conceded there may be more surface cracks yet to be uncovered in the state conservation area.
The company will also be required to continually monitor and remediate any future cracks identified over the life of the mine, the DPIE spokesperson said.
“This is a legally binding agreement which will speed up remediation work and payments,” they said.
Remediation work will include filling some of the cracks using techniques designed to withstand impacts from weather.
Warning signs at the edge of the park and near cracks will also be installed and the company has worked with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to install fencing near cracks to help with visitor safety.
The company must organise independent reviews every six months to see if there are any further cracks in the conservation area. These reviews will occur for the life of the mine, and if any are found, the company must implement remediation works.
The site’s many unusual rocks have been described as the “three hundred sisters”, echoing the more famous “three sisters” at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.
President of the Blue Mountains Conservation Society, Madi Maclean, said it was pleasing that the mine “had been held to account” but the amount of the fine was “disappointing”.
“It’ll have little impact on the mining company,” Maclean said.
“There were extensive cracks. It’s a beautiful reserve, Mugii Murum-Ban, it’s such a shame to see this damage and the sinkholes. We don’t want to see any more.”
The stone towers are unique to the area and some are estimated to be between 6m and 10m years old.
Repairing the damage “is very hard”, said Mary Thirlwall, a resident involved in Landcare who had helped raise the alarm. “You can’t jack up a mountain, you know, or fill in the cracks really that easily.”
Centennial has been approved to mine in the Mount Airly region up to 2037. The next stage within the Mugii Murum-Ban area would be to extract coal under the adjacent Genowlan mesa, an even larger rocky landscape that could be more vulnerable to cliff collapses if there is similar fracturing to that at Mount Airly, according to Thirlwall.
The nearby Gardens of Stone, a larger area of the remarkable, pagoda-like structures, were granted similar state conservation status last November. It too has had coalmining underneath.
“Airly and Genowlan are just iconic mesas,” she said. “It’s just a very special area.”
Centennial itself did not dispute the cracks were caused by its longwall mining to remove panels of coal in the 1.8m-tonne-a-year operation.
It also accepted the fractures far exceeded the consent condition that requires surface subsidence be limited to 125mm.
The payment will be used to undertake work in the conservation area, including pest monitoring and management, as well as installing new surveillance cameras.
