The Albanese Labor government has approved four huge coal mine expansions in New South Wales and Queensland that will fuel over 850m tonnes of carbon emissions in their lifetime, which is equivalent to almost double Australia’s annual emissions.
On the same day the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek, boasted on social media that ‘In 2024 Labor has approved 0 new coal mines’, details of the coal mine extension approvals were uploaded without fanfare to the federal government’s public portal.
They are the Boggabri coal mine expansion in New South Wales, and the Caval Ridge Horse Pit Extension, the Lake Vermont Meadowbrook coal mine project, and the Vulcan South coalmine, all in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
Three of these mines – Lake Vermont Meadowbrook, Caval Ridge and Boggabri – were the subject of an epic, but ultimately unsuccessful, legal bid from our clients – a small community climate group, the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ). In a series of landmark court cases known as the Living Wonders cases, ECoCeQ tried to make the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek act on the climate damage these fossil fuel projects would cause.
Most of the pollution from these mines will be emitted when the coal is exported and burnt overseas.
In September, the government approved three other coal mine expansions - Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri coal mine expansion, MACH Energy’s Mount Pleasant Optimisation coal expansion and Yancoal’s Ashton coal expansion. These will have a huge climate impact, together creating 1.1 billion tonnes of emissions.
Christine Carlisle, Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ) President, says:
‘We had been hoping the Albanese Government would get it right on the climate harms of new coal and gas proposals. Now we’ve moved from disappointment to anger at these latest coal mine approvals.
‘Three other coal mine expansions were all approved recently. Now Lake Vermont Meadowbrook, Caval Ridge and Boggabri have been approved. Our climate cannot cope, and neither can we.’
‘Approving new coal and gas is a betrayal of ordinary Australians, and a ruthless decision by the Albanese government to sacrifice the fate and future of our living wonders, of our iconic plants, animals and precious places to appease the fossil fuel industry.’
Retta Berryman, Environmental Justice Australia senior specialist lawyer says:
‘The science is clear - more coal damages the climate and our environment, regardless of whether it's from a new coal mine or an extension of an existing mine.’
‘In approving these coal mines, the Albanese government has refused to recognise their climate harms to thousands of animals, plants and places.’
‘These coal mine approvals are huge setback that our client fought valiantly to protect against.’
Living wonders:
The Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ), represented by lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia, argued before the full Federal Court that the Minister for the Environment was legally required to protect Australia’s unique environment – including koalas, the Australian Alps and the Great Barrier Reef – from climate harm in the landmark Living Wonders climate cases.
THE COAL MINES
Lake Vermont Meadowbrook
While the existing Lake Vermont coal mine winds down, its owners propose to expand the mine to run for another 20 years.
Bowen Basin Coal Pty Ltd proposes to construct and operate a double-seam underground longwall coal mine, three open-cut pits and associated infrastructure in the Bowen Basin, approximately 30 kilometres North-East of Dysart, Queensland
The extended coal mine is expected to produce up to 7 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of run of mine (ROM) coal, equivalent to approximately 5.5 Mtpa of metallurgical and thermal product coal (for export and domestic market) over a life of approximately 25 years.
This equals a total of 137.5 million tonnes (Mt) of product coal over the life of the mine. The total of combustion CO2 emissions for the product coal of the project is estimated to be 334.13 million tonnes of CO2.
Caval Ridge Horse Pit Extension
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s proposes to extend the Caval Ridge Coal Mine and operate it for more than three decades, to 2056.
BM Alliance proposes to construct and operate an extension to the existing Caval Ridge Coal Mine (CVM) Horse Pit, approximately 5 km southwest of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin, Queensland.
The CVM is an open cut mining operation that supplies hard coking coal product for the export market.
BM Alliance will extend one of the two CVM pits and will involve extraction and combustion of approximately 15 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of run-of-mine (ROM) coal.
The proposal aims to commence in 2025 and extend to 2055. The mining schedule indicates extraction of approximately 158.3 million tonnes of coal over the life of the project.
The total combustion CO2 emissions for the product coal of the project is estimated to be 440.64 million CO2.
Boggabri coal mine expansion
Due to be shut down in 2033, Idemitsu wants to extend the life of its Boggabri open-cut coal mine in New South Wales’ Leard State Forest by an extra six years to 2039.
