Bowen Coking Coal Limited has announced that the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water approved its planned construction and operations at the Isaac River Coal Mine.
Construction is anticipated to commence in 2024 and once completed, the project is expected to generate 200 new jobs in steady-state mining.
According to the company, the company has been granted approval under the Commonwealth Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.
The EPBC approval requires Bowen to offset potential impacts to ornamental snake habitats and to monitor surface and groundwater under pre-commencement commitments.
Two full sets of the application were printed and made available at the Brisbane State Library and Moranbah Library for public review and comment.
Once operational, the Isaac River project will produce high-quality, high-yielding metallurgical coal of up to 500,000 tonnes per year for approximately five years.
The Australian Government’s environmental approval process has taken almost two years, with technical studies about potential impacts on air, noise, soil, surface water, geochemical and groundwater completed in 2019.
According to Bowen CEO Mark Ruston, the approval serves as a significant milestone for the company and the project.
“It will enable the company to continue to deliver much needed metallurgical coal to growing market demand and will aid Bowen in achieving our vision of an annualised run of mine (ROM) production target of 5 million ROM tonnes by 2024,” Ruston added.
