The SMP application for “Area 5” was submitted to the Department of Primary Industries, Mineral Resources last week and seeks approval to extract the eastern half of longwalls 31, 32 and 33, which are located in the current West Cliff Colliery mining area.

The company plans to extract 5.2 million tonnes of coal from the application area.

Mining will occur at a depth of about 500m with longwall 31 at 305m wide before reducing to 205m wide to avoid a geological fault. Longwalls 32 and 33 are 305m wide.

Illawarra Coal sustainable development general manager Wendy Tyrrell said key design criteria had been used to reduce impact on the environment, including not extracting longwall coal from under the Georges River.

Tyrrell said while there were some major infrastructure items in the vicinity of Area 5 – including roads, fibre optic cables and buildings – comprehensive studies, management plans and ongoing discussions with infrastructure owners ensured that potential impacts were managed.

“Detailed studies included subsidence prediction and analysis of past impacts from mining. There will be no significant impact to the river flow, water quality or flora and fauna,” Tyrrell said.

The SMP has been advertised and is available for inspection at DPI offices in Maitland and Wollongong, and Illawarra Coal Offices in Appin and Port Kembla, until the end of January 2006.