The Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) coal mining project consists of two mine sites separated by the Hunter River, HVO North and HVO South. The project is a joint venture between Yancoal and Glencore, with Glencore managing the mining operations at these mine sites.
HVO Continuation Project: Glencore proposes to extend its massive Hunter Valley Operations projects (north and south) for over 20 years. Under the HVO Continuation Project, mining at a rate of 22Mtpa would continue to the end of 2050 at the North pit, and at a rate of 18Mtpa to 2045 at HVO South.
Mining Impacts: Over its 70 year life span this mine has had enormous consequences for the region’s groundwater and surface water resources, including:
• the discharge of saline mine wastewater into nearby waterways
• the extraction of water from the Hunter River and other waterways
• the diversion and use of surface water run-off during and following rainfall events
• the depressurisation of aquifers as a result of mine pit de-watering.
The expansion would also result in large swathes of critically endangered ecological communities being destroyed, including 120.4ha of the highly fragmented Central Hunter Valley Eucalypt Forest and Woodland Critically Endangered Ecological Community (CEEC).