New Lenton Coal Project (lapsed)
New Lenton Coal Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of New Hope Corporation Ltd, proposed to develop the New Lenton Coal Project at a site approximately 65km north of Moranbah. The project would have involved the operation of an open cut coal mine and associated mining activities on mining tenure mining lease ML70337.
The project was being assessed by way of a voluntary environmental impact statement (EIS) under Part 1 of Chapter 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act). The terms of reference (TOR) were finalised and issued to the proponent on 27 June 2014. Section 47 of the EP Act then gave the proponent up to two years to prepare and submit an EIS for the project based on those TOR. On 12 January 2016 the proponent requested, and was granted, an extension of two years to submit the EIS until 27 June 2018.
An EIS was not received by 27 June 2018. Consequently, the EIS process is suspended under section 67 of the EP Act.
New Lenton Coal Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of New Hope Corporation Ltd) proposes to develop the New Lenton Coal Project. The company already has approval to mine two million tonnes a year (Mt/y) of run-of-mine (ROM) coal on mining lease ML70337. That mine is due to start construction in 2016. The New Lenton Coal Project would increase the mining rate to 8Mt/y of ROM coal on ML70337 and a new mining lease (70456) on an adjacent area of land covering approximately 4895 hectares.
The proposed project would be located adjacent to the Isaac River approximately 65 kilometres (km) north-west of Nebo, 65km north of Moranbah, 20km south of Glenden and 120km south-west of Mackay, in the Isaac Regional Council area, in Central Queensland.
The New Lenton mine would use conventional truck and shovel open-cut methods. The 8Mt/y of ROM coal would be processed at a new conventional coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) to produce up to 5Mt/y of coking and thermal coal products for export, for up to 25 years.
Process waste from the CHPP would be disposed of initially within a purpose built co-disposal dam, and subsequently within an in-pit storage cell, once sufficient space exists in the pit. Depending on future port capacity, stockpiled coal products would either be loaded directly onto trains at an on-site rail load-out facility, or trucked to an off-lease train load-out facility and then railed to Port of Abbot Point near Bowen, or Dalrymple Bay coal terminal near Mackay, for export.
Associated on-site infrastructure would include haul roads, water storage and flood protection infrastructure, sewage and potable water treatment plants, product stockpiles, waste rock emplacements, a mining infrastructure area (e.g. a fuel farm, maintenance workshop, warehouse, wash bays, equipment laydown areas etc.) and administration and amenity buildings. Site access would be via the Suttor and Bowen Developmental Roads. The Suttor Developmental Road would need to be realigned to access the underlying coal resource.
New Lenton Coal Pty Ltd is consulting with SunWater to secure a reliable water supply to meet project water demands.
The estimated project capital expenditure to achieve full production is approximately $700 million.
Project construction is expected to take between 12 and 24 months to complete and would employ a peak workforce of around 200 people. At full production the project is expected to employ around 300 people.
The project is located in a strategic cropping land (SCL) management area, within the Western Cropping zone and the Central Highlands Isaac sub-zone, but there are no areas mapped as SCL on ML application 70456.
Queensland environmental impact statement process
Environmental Protection Act 1994
On 10 June 2011, an application was made by the proponent under section 71 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act) for the preparation of a voluntary environmental impact statement (EIS). The department approved the application under section 72 of the EP Act on 17 June 2011.
Commonwealth assessment process
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
On 4 September 2012 the former Australian Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, determined the proposed project to be a controlled action under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The controlling provisions are sections 18 and 18A (listed threatened species and communities) and 20 and 20A (listed migratory species). On 22 October 2013 the then Department of the Environment determined that sections 24D and 24E (water resources) are also a controlling provision for the project.
The potential impacts of the project on the controlling provisions will be assessed under the Queensland Government’s EIS process under the EP Act which has been accredited for the assessment under the EPBC Act in accordance with the bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Queensland (2012).
Final terms of reference
The final TOR for the EIS was issued to the proponent on 27 June 2014. The proponent originally had until 27 June 2016 to prepare the EIS and submit it to the department for assessment. However, the proponent requested, and was granted, an extension of two years. The EIS must now be submitted by 27 June 2018.
Documents
- Final terms of reference 362.4 KB) (June 2014)
- Draft terms of reference 196.3 KB) (February 2014)
- Initial advice statement describing the project 2.2 MB) (December 2013)
Further information
For further information about the EIS process for the New Lenton Coal Project, contact the EIS Coordinator on 13QGOV (13 74 68) or email eis@des.qld.gov.au.