Angus Place West Mine proposal puts nationally endangered swamps at risk
Centennial Coal plans to reopen the Angus Place Colliery, that has been mothballed since 2015. The mine is located in the upper Coxs River valley 20 minutes north of Lithgow. In August 2021 Centennial submitted a Scoping Report to the Planning Department for its Angus Place West proposal. The company plans to extract up to 8.5 millions tonnes of coal at a rate of up to 2 million tonnes a year till 2040. The proposal covers 1,000 hectares and would mine under sensitive areas of the new Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area. Despite Centennial's proposal being a controlled action under Federal environmental law (the EPBC Act), the company alleges that mapped national heritage listed swamps are not national heritage, even through they paid for the mapping that identifies them as nationally significant!
State of play: The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for this mining proposal is currently scheduled to go on public exhibition for comment sometime mid-2025. To ensure the EIS and this project are referred to a public inquiry by the Independent Planning Commission, we will need submissions from as many supporters as possible. That's where you come in, join the fight to protect the Gardens of Stone.
For more information see the Angus Place West Briefing Document
More details on how mining will impact on nationally endangered swamps.
Lithgow Environment Centre's submission, Nature Conservation Council's submission and Wilderness Australia's submission.
Adventure facilities and tourism accommodation must not blight views
The reserve’s plan of management must be amended as it currently drives commercial tourism growth, instead of conservation and presentation of the heritage values that ensures quality sustainable tourism. The current plan still allows for adventure tourism facilities to straddle the middle of the Lost City view, wrecking Lithgow’s best scenic asset and illustrates perfectly what’s wrong with the management plan. The commerical glamping sites are also located in pagoda landscapes, although the NPWS denies this, and would blight these outstanding heritage assets at three remote locations.
A revised plan for the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area would establish effective recreation management that:
- provides for and promotes ecologically sustainable and environmentally acceptable recreation and tourism activities;
- makes sustainable recreation activities currently ecologically unsustainable;
- protects and restores its natural and cultural heritage; and
- excludes illegal activities.
Management must ensure the aspirations of Traditional Owners to care for and share Country and Aboriginal culture are supported.
