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A major Hunter Valley coal mine is seeking a short-term extension to the life of its operations, as its approval deadline approaches.
Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) is a multi-pit, open-cut coal mining complex near Muswellbrook — a joint venture between Yancoal and Glencore — comprising two mine sites.
HVO hopes to extend its North mine by 25 years, from 2025 to to 2050, and its South mine for 15 years, from 2030 to 2045.
But with approval for the North mine running out in June next year, general manager Dave Foster said the entity would seek a short-term extension, although he did not specify for how long.
He said it would give both levels of government more time to complete their assessments of the longer extension.
"It is also necessary to safeguard jobs for our workforce and give certainty to our contractors, community partners and the businesses that rely on us for work," Mr Foster said.
HVO hopes to extract a further 400 million tonnes of coal. (ABC News: Nic MacBean)
Federal application on hold
HVO had previously sought approval from both the state and federal governments for the larger extension of up to 25 years, which would see an additional 400 million tonnes of coal extracted.
However, the application has now been withdrawn online.
The ABC understands it has been paused and will be re-submitted at a later date due to additional information being required for the state application.
"The NSW government has requested more detailed information as part of its assessment of our proposal," Mr Foster said.
"We are undertaking additional modelling and mine planning to provide this information."
Calls for transition plan
Steve Phillips is the coordinator of Hunter Renewal, a community organisation that advocates for the region's future.
He said the application changes showed mining companies and governments had no clear plan for transitioning away from coal.
"Getting approval on the books doesn't actually give workers certainty," Mr Phillips said.
"We can give this mine the approval to operate until 2050 but that doesn't mean it's going to operate until 2050 because the world is going to stop buying coal a lot sooner than that."
Mr Phillips said HVO had left workers in a "stage of insecurity".
"That just shows why we need contingency plans, we need a long-term plan for the transition of the Hunter Valley away from mining," he said.
"We also need contingency plans for when these mines unexpectedly close down or don't get their approvals."
Environment group to keep 'fighting'
The Hunter Environment Lobby (HEL) took legal action earlier this year, seeking to overturn a federal decision that allowed the project to move onto the next stage.
President Jan Davis said now that the federal application had been withdrawn, that legal challenge would cease.
However, she said HEL would not back down in its opposition to the project.
"We don't expect this to be the end of the matter and we'll continue to look at ways that we can fight for the communities here in the Hunter," Ms Davis said.
"We'll be fighting to try to help stop the climate chaos, in other words try to stop even more coal mining than there is at present."