The “innovative mining system” combines elements used in other successful mines to create an Australian-first system to extract coal for steel-making from the Wongawilli coal seam in the Sutton Forest area.

The mine will be about 10kms outside of Moss Vale and will extend from the Illawarra Highway to Belanglo Forest. The surface infrastructure will be on the western side of the Hume Highway on Hume Coal property. 

In an effort to protect the water and environment, the project will mine 35 per cent of coal from the available reserves but leave the majority of the coal in the ground for long-term stability and to minimise impacts on groundwater.

Mine planning manager Alex Pauza said about 60 to 80 per cent of coal was usually extracted from mines.

“We have really tried to minimise the environmental impact and maximise the economic benefit,” Mr Pauza said.

“This will be achieved by using a system that enables us to preserve groundwater long-term and prevent subsidence.”

Mr Pauza said there could be some short-term impacts on landowners’ bores within and around the mining area, but Hume Coal would work with landowners to provide alternate water supplies or deepen bores in the interim.

The mine’s surface infrastructure will be about 150ha, but Mr Pauza said there would be limited exposure as the infrastructure would be tucked away behind the landscape.

From the surface, the underground mine wouldn’t be visible at all, Mr Pauza said.

The mine’s construction will take three years and employ 400 people, subject to government approvals and after a pre-construction phase that is expected to take about five years, he said.

A permanent workforce of 300 local people will be employed once the mine is operational, he said.

“It won’t be a drive-in, drive-out workforce,” Mr Pauza said. “We will make it a policy that everyone who works at the mine needs to live in the Highlands.”

Project director Greig Duncan said Hume Coal had undertaken “detailed environmental and geological studies and exhaustive engineering design analysis” to ensure the best outcome for the community.

“The project will not involve coal seam gas, open cut or longwall mining,” Mr Duncan said.

“We’ve taken great care to design a mining system that will have no long-term impact on the groundwater system, ensuring it remains intact and undamaged for future generations.”

Berrima resident Zeb Dubokovich, a fitter and turner,  said the mine would help a lot of people get work in the Highlands.

“I trained in the area, but there’s not a lot of business to keep trading in the Highlands, especially after the global financial crisis hit Joy and Boral and there were redundancies,” Mr Dubokovich said. 

“There are plenty of people who will need the work.”

Councillor Jim Clark said the plan was "dubious" and said he had concerns about how the mine would work.

"I don't think the water will remain in the panels. How do you seal off a big hole in the ground?," Cr Clark said.

"The very nature of geology is once they break through the coal, water can reach the sandstone and run out.

"It's still seems like the same process but maybe on a different scale."

Hume Coal will submit a preliminary environmental assessment and application to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment later this month as the first step in the development proposal.

How will the mine work (3D animation):

History of Highland coal exploration:

1956

•  Mining exploration begins in Sutton Forrest as NSW Government grants first exploration lease.

1956 - 1970s

•  Exploration leases granted to Illawarra Coke Company (BHP subsidiary), Bellambi Coal Company, Southern Portland (BHP subsidiary) and Austen & Butta.

1985

•  NSW Government creates and grants exploration lease Authorisation 349 (A349) to Bellambi Coal Company Ltd and Austen & Butta Ltd.

2000

•  Anglo Coal acquires the A349 lease.

2010

•  POSCO Australia and Cockatoo Coal acquire lease A349 from Anglo Coal as a joint venture.

2011

•  Cockatoo Coal becomes manager of the Hume Coal project. Exploration and environmental surveys of the Hume Coal 

project begin.

2012

•  A Hume Coal community office opens in Moss Vale.

2013

•  Southern Highland Coal Action Group (SHCAG) holds a ‘No New Coal or Coal Seam Gas’ forum.

•  POSCO Australia acquires Cockatoo Coal’s interest in lease A349.

•  Residents block Carter’s Lane for about seven months to stop Hume Coal’s access for exploration.

•  Hume Coal take a Carter’s Lane resident to court and win, ending the blockade.

•  Hume Coal announces release of a proposal to develop a Highlands coal mine in mid-to-late 2014.

2014

•  SHCAG present findings of groundwater study.

•  NSW Government orders Hume Coal to withdraw or amend latest application to drill 90 exploration holes.

•  Wingecarribee Council rejects Hume Coal’s request to assess soil and install piexometer nests (non-pumping wells) on council land.

•  Hume Coal submits a proposal to the NSW Government for a final resolution.

•  NSW Government approves Hume Coal to continue exploration drilling, 25 more boreholes over two years. 

•  Wingecarribee Council decides to hold a public meeting with Hume Coal.

2015

•  SHCAG organises an anti-coal rally in Corbett Gardens, Bowral, with Alan Jones.

•  SHCAG members protest a Hume Coal visit to a Southern Highlands property.

•  Hume Coal reveals mine project plan submitted for government approval.