The NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) has approved the Hunter Valley Operations Continuation Project (HVO)—the largest coal mine expansion ever proposed in New South Wales.
The IPC approval will allow HVO to continue mining at the site until 2045, extracting an estimated 429 million tonnes of coal across both sites.
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Environmental groups said the extension would seriously jeopardise New South Wales’ net-zero targets.
The IPC acknowledged the emission of 809 megatonnes (Mt) of greenhouse gases from the mining operations and coal combustion overseas would contribute to local, national, and global climate change impacts, but said those impacts were balanced against the “significant employment, business, social and economic benefits of the mine extension”.
HVO said the mine supported 1,500 jobs, engaged more than 800 suppliers, and injected more than $1 billion a year into the economy.
Climate Council councillor and former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW Greg Mullins said, “This is a decision that every community in NSW will end up paying for, including those who are still recovering from worsening fires and floods fuelled by climate pollution.
“What NSW exports as coal, we import back as bushfires, floods, heatwaves and droughts. Climate harm does not stop at the border, and neither does the responsibility for it.”
The HVO Continuation Project will release more than 800 million tonnes of climate pollution over its life—more than seven times NSW’s annual climate pollution—including 15.1 million tonnes directly at the mine site, and 793.8 million tonnes when the coal is burned.
The National Climate Risk Assessment found NSW was among the areas facing the most significant and rapid increases in climate hazards in the country.
“In the Hunter, more than 12,000 homes are already at high risk of becoming uninsurable. Those families will carry the cost of decisions like this one, and they will carry it for decades,” Mullins said.
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To go ahead, the HVO Continuation Project must obtain federal government environmental approval by the end of December 2026.
