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Bylong Coal Project is a cancelled coal mine in Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Mine Name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Bylong Coal Project | Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia | -32.451139, 150.143913 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:
Project Details
Table 2: Project status
| Status | Status Detail | Project Type | Opening Year | Closing Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancelled | Pre-Permit | New | – | – |
Table 3: Operation details
| Capacity (Mtpa) | Production (Mtpa) | Year of Production | Mine Type | Mining Method | Mine Size (km2) | Mine Depth (m) | Workforce Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5 | – | – | Underground & Surface | Mixed | 70 | 60* | * |
Table 4: Coal resources and destination
| Total Reserves (Mt) | Year of Total Reserves Recorded | Total Resources (Mt) | Coalfield | Coal Type | Coal Grade | Primary Consumer/ Destination |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 124 | – | – | – | Bituminous | Thermal | – |
Table 5: Ownership and parent company
| Owner | Parent Company | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| KEPCO Bylong Australia | KEPCO | South Korea |
Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the GEM April 2024 Global Coal Mine Tracker dataset.
Background
The Bylong Valley Coal Project was a proposed thermal coal mine planned for the Bylong Valley, north-east of Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia.[1]
As of February 2022, the project has been cancelled.[2] The Bylong Valley Coal Project is owned by South Korea's state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO). KEPCO acquired the mine from global mining company, Anglo American, in 2010 for 460 billion won ($371.6 million).[3] KEPCO Bylong Australia Pty Ltd., a now-defunct subsidiary of KEPCO, was the project's operator. The project was KEPCO’s first 100% equity investment in Australia.[4] Had it started the coal would have been exported to Korea.[5]
If the project had been successful, it would have operated for 25 years (open cut 9 years, underground 20 years).[6] The mine's coal would have been transported by rail to the port of Newcastle for export.[1]
- Operator: KEPCO Bylong Australia Pty Ltd.[1]
- Owner: KEPCO Bylong Australia Pty Ltd.[1]
- Location: 55 km north-east of Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia[1]
- GPS Coordinates: -32.451139, 150.143913 (exact)[7]
- Status: Cancelled[8]
- Production Capacity: 6.5 million tonnes (run of mine) per annum[1]
- Total Resource:
- Mineable Reserves: 124 million tonnes[9]
- Coal Type: Bituminous (Thermal)[3][4]
- Mine Size: 6,958 hectares[9]
- Mine Type: Open-cut and underground[1]
- Start Year:
- Source of Financing:
Environmental Impacts
The project takes its name from the Bylong Valley - a historic farming region which is to house the proposed mine site.
On 18 September 2019, the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) announced its decision to refuse the Bylong Coal Project.[7]
The commission found that the negative impacts outweighed the benefits. These included the impact on productive agricultural land, after the commission rejected KEPCO's submission high quality agricultural soil could be rehabilitated; the impact on the heritage and landscape values of the Bylong valley, and climate change impacts.[5]
Following review of the Project by the former Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) in July 2017 and a letter from the Department to Bylong Coal Project dated 28 May 2018, the Applicant submitted the Bylong Coal Project – Supplementary Information Report (Supplementary Information Report) to the Department in July 2018, which provided details of a Revised Mine Plan. The May 2018 letter stated that the Department “considers that revisions to the proposed mine plan are required to adequately avoid and minimise the potential impacts on the heritage values of Tarwyn Park and surrounding landscape” and that “no open cut mining or overburden emplacement should be permitted on the Tarwyn Park property; and overburden emplacement areas should be redesigned to minimise the visual impacts and maximise the integration of the proposed final landform with the surrounding topography”.
Further to the Revised Mine Plan, the Department recommended a set of conditions (Final Proposed Conditions) in its Final Assessment Report to amend the Project in line with the Revised Mine Plan and prohibit the construction of the workforce accommodation facility and the open cut mine on the historic Tarwyn Park property. The Commission noted that despite providing an assessment of the Revised Mine Plan, the Applicant did not formally amend its development application. The Commission therefore assessed the Project on the basis that approval is being sought for the Project as originally proposed in the Environmental Impact Statement submitted with the development application.[10]
The Newcastle Herald reported, "Long-term environmental costs of approving the mine, including the contribution to climate change, will be borne by future generations" and was not in the public interest, the commission found in a long-awaited decision"
"The commission is of the view that the distribution of costs and benefits over and beyond the life of the mine is temporally inequitable in that the economic benefits accrue to the current generation and the environmental, agricultural and heritage costs are borne by future generations," it found.
There was also a "reasonable level of uncertainty" about the economic benefits, the commission said."[5]
At first, KEPCO said it was closely reviewing the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) report to determine what options are available following the IPC’s decision.[11] In October 2021, KEPCO announced that it was seeking leave in the High Court to appeal against the rejection.[8]
In the wake of the IPC's refusal for the mine, it was reported in February 2020 that KEPCO has written off the the project. According to the Newcastle Herald in Australia, the company's board marked down the value of its Bylong mining rights from $Aus642 million to zero in a report to the South Korean stock exchange in early January. Commenting on this decision, Tim Buckley at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said the write-off "doesn't mean that KEPCO has walked away, but it clears the deck should they formally decide to walk".[12]
In October 2021, KEPCO sought special leave to appeal to the High Court in a final bid to overturn the refusal. However, in February 2022, the High Court declined to grant special leave to hear KEPCO’s appeal – a decision based on written submissions, including those by the BVPA, without the need for an oral hearing. This means KEPCO has exhausted all available legal avenues to challenge a 2019 decision by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) to refuse the Bylong Coal Project.[2]
Articles and Resources
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Bylong Coal, "Home", Bylong Coal website, Archived from the original on 1 March 2022, Accessed March 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "It’s Over: Final Victory as Bylong Coal Project Appeal Rejected", Environmental Defenders Office, 20 Feb 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kim Jung-Seok and Choi Jieun, "Debt-ridden KEPCO urged to offset losses from Australia coal mine project", Pulse News, 17 Jan. 2023.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bylong Coal, "About", Bylong Coal website, accessed 21 January 2020.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Joanne McCarthy, "Landmark ruling rejects coal mine because of intergenerational inequity", Newcastle Herald website, 18 September 2019.
- ↑ Planning and Environment, "Statement of reasons for decision", page 4, New South Wales Government website, 18 September 2019.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Planning and Environment, "Statement of reasons for decision", page 3, New South Wales Government website, 18 September 2019.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Jake Lapham,KEPCO to seek leave to appeal Bylong Valley coal mine refusal in High Court, ABC Upper Hunter, October 13, 2021
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Planning and Environment, "Statement of reasons for decision", page 1, New South Wales Government website, 18 September 2019.
- ↑ Planning and Environment, "Statement of reasons for decision", page 5, New South Wales Government website, 18 September 2019.
- ↑ Bylong Coal, "Project Approvals", Bylong Coal website, accessed 21 January 2020.
- ↑ KEPCO says Bylong mine proposal has no value after refusal in September, Newcastle Herald, Feb. 7, 2020.
