Norwich Park (East Pit) coal mine
BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) proposes to develop East Pit at its existing Norwich Park Coal Mine south of Dysart in central Queensland, 256 kilometres (km) southwest of Mackay. East Pit is designed to enable Norwich Park Mine to maintain its coal production and extend the life of the mine. Existing mining activities at Norwich Park Mine are subject to an Environmental Authority and an approved Environmental Management Overview Strategy.
BMA submitted to the department an application for a replacement environmental authority for the existing and proposed operations. The department determined that the application was non-standard and that an environmental impact statement (EIS) was required. The department is managing the assessment of the project using the EIS process set out in part 1 of chapter 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994.
Norwich Park East Pit is to be mined by conventional open cut methods using dragline in combination with truck and shovel. Mining is to occur seven days per week to depths from 35 to 80 m below surface level and production will be on average 0.5 Mt/a. Existing mine infrastructure is to accommodate the Norwich Park (East Pit) operations with all coal to be processed at the existing Norwich Park Industrial Area. All Norwich Park (East Pit) operations are to be staffed by current Norwich Park employees. The life of the operation is expected to be about 16 years.
The Norwich Park East Pit is expected to disturb an area of 263 ha over approximately 16 years, with a total area of approximately 450 hectares (including ex-pit dumps, haul roads, access tracks and a dragline walk road) to be potentially disturbed over the life of the proposal. Progressive rehabilitation aims to return a combination of grazing and bushland to all disturbed areas.
Establishment of Norwich Park East Pit will require the removal of approximately 85 ha of Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) dominant and co-dominant communities containing two endangered regional ecosystems (ERE's) under the Vegetation Management Act 1999. These are also listed threatened ecological communities under Part 3 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth).
The Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage has determined that the project constitutes a controlled action pursuant to s75 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth). The Part 3, Division 1 controlling provisions are Sections 18 and 18A (Listed threatened species and communities). The EIS assessment process as set out in Chapter 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 will satisfy both State and Commonwealth requirements.
The EIS Assessment Report for the Norwich Park East Pit Coal Mine project has been issued to the proponent and the EIS process is now completed.
Publicly available documents:
- Final terms of reference (see availability)
- Norwich Park East Pit EIS assessment report
For further information regarding the EIS process for the Norwich Park East Pit Coal Mine project contact the EIS Coordinator on telephone (07) 3227 8892.
Available from the library catalogue
The document referred to on this page is available from the department’s online library catalogue.