Narrabri Coal Pty Ltd and Narrabri Coal Operations Pty Ltd were convicted and fined a total of $372,500 in the NSW Land and Environment Court on 13 August 2021, for a range of offences under the state’s mining laws.
The convictions follow a prosecution by the NSW Resources Regulator concerning breaches of Exploration Licence EL6243 and Mining Lease ML1609, which form part of Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri Operations located 23km northwest of Boggabri.
Narrabri Coal Pty Ltd’s convictions and $132,500 fine related to ten separate breaches of section 378D of the Mining Act 1992 (the Act) for failing to comply with conditions of authorisation for EL6243 and ML1609.
Narrabri Coal Operations Pty Ltd, as the operator of the mine, was convicted and fined $240,000 in relation to nine separate charges of causing and permitting breaches of the Act.
The identified breaches included the construction of unauthorised tracks, failing to rehabilitate drill sites and drilling of bore holes contrary to exploration activity approval conditions.
The court also ordered the defendants to pay the Regulator’s legal costs and required the publication of information about the convictions in public newspapers and on the company’s website.
The Resources Regulator’s Executive Director, Garvin Burns said “The court’s decision sends a strong message that title holders and mine operators must comply with the conditions attached to their mining authorisations - and any breaches of those approvals will not be tolerated.”
The Regulator suspended EL6243 in August 2019, following the identification of the alleged breaches. The licence holder complied with the requirements of the suspension notice.
