South32 wants to extend mining at Dendrobium for almost 20 years

But an environmental group has raised concerns about the fact the proposal involves mining under the water catchment area.

South32 has lodged a proposal to extend mining in two coal seams near the Avon and Cordeaux dams.

The submission stated the new mining areas would extend the mine’s life by 18 years, from 2030 to the end of 2048.

The miner stated in the submission the project would keep workers employed and create extra jobs.

“The mine has 270 direct employees,” it stated.

“These jobs are reliant on maintaining continuity of longwall coal extraction at the mine through the project.”

The miner said it planned to avoid mining beneath swamps in the area and longwalls would be positioned away from permanently flowing streams.

Georgina Woods from Lock the Gate said there was no clear information on the extent of South32’s planned mining in the two areas.

“But we feel the evidence of damage that has been done in the last 15 years since Dendrobium was approved is reason enough to draw a line under longwall mining so close to Sydney’s dams and the Illawarra’s dams and stop any further expansion in the special areas,” Ms Woods said.

She expressed concern that new Planning Minister Anthony Roberts was previously the Minister for Resources.

“It’s going to be important for him to really clearly signal that he knows that being Planning Minister means balancing concerns,” she said.