A HUNTER mine's development consent is expected to extend to 2027 in what the company has described to the share market as a "significant milestone".
Australian Pacific Coal informed the ASX on Monday that it had struck a deal with the state government in Land and Environment Court proceedings to modify its consent for the Dartbrook mine near Muswellbrook.
Those proceedings came after the NSW Independent Planning Commission in August last year approved the restart of underground operations at the Dartbrook coal mine but rejected a five-year extension beyond the current permit.
That permit was due to conclude on December 5 2022 but will now extend a further five years under the agreement.
The Independent Planning Commission (IPC) had been conducting litigation on behalf of the minister, and on Monday posted the agreement to its website.
That agreement signs off on an "extension to an underground coal mine and rejects emplacement area, increase in coal production rate and construction and operation of associated surface facilities".
In a statement the IPC said it would not be accepting further submissions on the signed agreement "as the commission has already benefitted from the community's submissions on the applicant's response to contentions".
The agreement will take effect when the court proceedings are completed, which both the commission and Australian Pacific Coal said is expected to happen on November 10.
"Once the agreement becomes effective the operation of the development consent for the Dartbrook Coal Mine will be extended until 5 December 2027," Australian Pacific Coal said in a statement to the stock exchange.
"The company welcomes the agreement which is a significant milestone for the recommencement of mining at Dartbrook."
A mining operation plan is required before any extraction can begin.
Dartbrook has been mothballed since 2006, changing hands a decade later when Anglo American sold it to Australian Pacific Coal in 2016.
Environmental groups have called for the mine, first approved in 2001, to undergo a fresh assessment process to accommodate changes to the region in the past two decades. In September this year environmental group Lock the Gate argued that the mine has relied on an air quality assessment from 2014 as the base line for background air pollution.
That data would not take into account the nearby Mount Pleasant mine, which commenced operations in 2016.
