NSW Approves Hunter Valley Coal Mine Until 2045, Leaving Federal Test to Come

The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission has approved the continuation of the Hunter Valley Operations open-cut coal mine near Singleton until 2045.

The determination covers two State Significant Development applications, HVO North and HVO South, listed as SSD-11826681 and SSD-11826621. The Commission describes them as development applications for the continuation of the HVO North and HVO South open cut coal mines and associated infrastructure, and lists their status as Determined – approved Independent Planning Commission.

In detail, the continuation provides for mining at HVO North until the end of 2045 and at HVO South until the end of 2042. An applicant presentation to the Commission in July had described HVO North as extending to the end of 2045, reduced by 5 years. The mine is owned by Yancoal and Glencore and, without approval, the export operation could have been forced to close in December The Guardian.

The assessment process drew more than 10,000 public submissions. The NSW Planning Secretary had extended the deadline for the Commission to decide on the HVO North and South applications to 30 September 2026. The Commission has now published a Statement of Reasons for Decision for the HVO Continued Operations Project covering SSD-11826681 and SSD-11826621 Statement of Reasons.

The Commission acknowledged that greenhouse gases from the coal would contribute to climate change impacts affecting the Hunter region, NSW and globally. It found those impacts were outweighed by local benefits including employment, economic activity, royalties and taxation revenue.

The companies forecast the expansion could lead to 809 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being released once the coal is exported and burned.

NSW Premier Chris Minns backed the outcome in a 2GB radio interview, calling the approval "the right decision" and "hugely important" for the state economy. Coal Australia and the NSW Minerals Council welcomed the extension.

Criticism came from Matt Kean, the chair of the Climate Change Authority and a former NSW treasurer and energy minister. In response to the approval, Kean said "Climate change isn't someone else's problem".

The state decision is not the final approval. The expansion still needs approval under federal environment law before the end of the year.

The broader context here is jurisdictional as much as environmental. New South Wales assessed a project whose physical footprint is local and whose emissions consequence is largely offshore, then weighed global climate harm against state employment and fiscal returns. That balancing test is explicit in the Commission's reasons. It leaves open how consistently future continuation projects can meet the same test as coal demand, royalties policy and emissions budgets evolve.

Looking at what this means for decision-makers, the next point of leverage sits with the Commonwealth. A federal assessment under environment law applies different statutory questions from state planning, particularly around matters of national environmental significance. For operators, investors and Hunter Valley communities, the state approval removes the near-term closure risk in December but does not settle financing, workforce planning or export contracting until the federal decision is made. For climate policy practitioners, the 809 million tonne figure and the more than 10,000 submissions frame the scale of public contestation that will likely accompany each remaining large coal continuation in New South Wales.