Whitehaven Coal has not yet finalised a preferred route for its proposed rail spur associated with the Vickery mine project, raising questions and uncertainty from local landholders.
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The company is currently working on its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which identifies possible options for new rail to support the project, but it is not complete and has not been submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
“Once this happens, the options will be thoroughly explored through an open and transparent process that considers community, technical, environmental and a host of other considerations,” a Whitehaven spokesperson said.
“Our EIS will go on public display. Those wishing to have a say on its contents, including in relation to rail, will be able to.”
The uncertainty has done little to appease farmers’ concerns, who fear the rail line will impact properties if the company goes ahead with the routes already proposed in its preliminary environmental assessment submitted to the state government in January.
Those options include a western and northern corridor on land owned by Whitehaven, Idemitsu Boggabri Coal and some private landholders. They also traverse some parcels of Crown Land, roads and watercourses.
“It’s on the floodplain and it will divert and hold up floodwater. If it holds it up, once it breaks out, it will erode soil and cause devastating impacts to farms,” local farmer Dave Watt has said.
Investigations for a rail solution are ongoing with a number of options still being considered. Once resolved, the EIS will be submitted, likely in the next six months.
“The NSW Planning regime places a strong emphasis on community consultation and that is an approach which we totally support. There is understandable interest in these issues but it’s critical we respect the integrity of the process and the way it has been set up,” the Whitehaven spokeperson said.
“It is important to understand that a rail line will mean that coal mined at Vickery will not be transported by road, as in the past. And a spur would help fulfill our commitment to entirely replace road haulage of coal with rail haulage across our entire business.”
Whitehaven wants to extend the mine to extract more than double the amount of coal per annum originally approved and establish an open-cut pit believed to be within 500m of the Namoi River.
