NEC Targets Mine to be Six Times Larger than Initial Proposal by 2015

In a recent announcement made by NEC regarding the appointment of Preferred Contractor for CHPP Construction at their proposed Colton Mine- 

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-9zfMeIwEXYJ:www.northernenergy.com.au/getfile/481/ema%2Band%2BSBR%2B20101213.pdf+northern+energy+coal&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgEzqICcgYifXFZxa5MkUFbDvN2tredXmM9eJx_9nGKXdZ3aA9W1_PVkRdlr8SrIqXgZ4OlYowOIFCMiawU_oByJhu3uvSut13Dc4guHFl6KscrGF-W2z6j98LTIvs86ETlNTuE&sig=AHIEtbRdSmzS_u9xCdHxvD4CjIJopY7h3g

The company claims that it plans to produce an initial amount of 0.5Mtpa of hard coking coal starting mid 2012. The next sentence goes on to state that 'In parallel with this development NEC plans further exploration and evaluation within the Maryborough Project area with the objective being to extend the resource of hard coking coal and increase the size of the mine development over time. The current conceptual development work is targeting a mine size of 2-3Mtpa from mid 2015'.

 

The residents of Aldershot and the Fraser Coast have been told by NEC that their proposed mine is only a small mine which will have very little impact on the lives of local residents, the local environment or the Mary River as they are only extracting 0.5Mtpa. This will only require 1-2 blasts per week. It's not very hard to work out that if NEC intends to increase their output six-fold by 2015 then so to is the increase of blasting, polluted air, polluted water tanks and drinking water, contaminated discharge water and so on. This means approximately 10-12 blasts per week for the residents to endure along with the huge amount of toxic dust that comes with such blasts!

We don't believe our concerns are inappropriate.

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