The Queensland premier is "very pleased" work can start on a thermal coal mine expansion after a long-running political and legal battle over the project.
New Hope Group's expansion of the New Acland coal mine near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, was on Thursday granted a water licence, clearing the final hurdle for work to start.
The green light comes after a long political and legal battle to stop the project going ahead, and after the government pledged to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2035.
Ms Palaszczuk has backed the project, which will produce up to 7.5 million tonnes of coal per annum for 12 years.
"I'm very pleased to see that all of those approvals now have been given," she told reporters on Friday.
"The project...means a lot of jobs to the Toowoomba economy, and as my government said, we would wait for the outcome of the court cases.
"Those court cases have been closed and those approvals have now been finalised."
Ms Palaszczuk insists a new thermal coal mine won't interfere with her government's plans to end coal-fired power generation by 2035.
"Countries still need coal, we are still using coal in our coal fired power plants," she added.
New Hope exhausted its last reserves at New Acland in November and has made almost 300 workers redundant since 2019.
The Oakey Coal Action Alliance and Lock the Gate Alliance have doggedly opposed a third mine at the site, which they fear will impact on local landholders, farmers and the environment.
However, they failed in bids to have it blocked by the Queensland's Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
The Land Court also knocked back another bid to stop the New Acland expansion in November after a 100-day hearing.
New Hope previously estimated it will pay as much as 80 per cent of royalties to itself thanks to its land holdings in the area.
Most of the New Acland site is subject to old land titles, meaning the rights to resources in the ground are retained by the landowner.
