Sager is facing 17 charges related to the incident, including breaching an apprehended violence order.

A brief hearing at a Newcastle local court yesterday confirmed that Sager was accused of stealing the dozer from MCPP and then driving it through bush on the way to a house in Weir Road, Teralba.

How long it took for the dozer to make the journey through what is believed to be less than 200m of bush/paddock before it landed on the nearest road is not clear. The rampage started around 7am on Monday.

Glencore, which is not commenting on any security-related matters in relation to this incident, has only confirmed that a dozer was “taken” from the MCPP during a Sunday night-Monday morning timeframe.

NSW police are not commenting on security-related issues as the matter is before the court.

Police previously said that its officers were called to the home about 7.10am following reports that a bulldozer had crushed three parked vehicles.

“Investigators have been told a 48-year-old man allegedly drove a bulldozer over the top of three vehicles parked in front of the house, and another that was parked at the side of the property,” Police said.

“The man then allegedly drove the vehicle toward a 29-year-old man who’d been sleeping in a detached garage on the property.

“He stopped pursuing the man a short time later and turned the bulldozer toward the house, before continuing over the building until it was demolished.”

With help of a neighbour the 56-year-old woman and her two daughters (15 and 20) managed to escape the home before it was destroyed.

“Local police, with assistance from the Dog Unit, smashed the window to the bulldozer’s cabin, before deploying OC [pepper] spray to subdue the driver,” police said.

“An officer was then able to press an emergency stop button to stall the bulldozer.”

Security at MCPP

While Glencore is not responding to security related questions, an ICN source believes there were no security cameras at the MCPP site.

The isolated operation, which was originally part of the long-closed Teralba underground coal mine, might have only been run by a crew of just 3-4 people at the time the dozer was taken according to a separate source who also believes that anyone could walk into the site.

Some sort of inside knowledge is suspected in relation to starting the dozer, although not all dozers require keys to start operation.

Coal from the West Wallsend mine is trucked on a 3.5km private haul road for delivery to the rail connected MCPP where the processed output is conveyed to a rail loading bin.

The dozer was owned by contractor Daracon, with a spokeswoman confirming it was stolen and saying little else.

Mobile plant theft cases are considered rare in the industry which more typically faces copper and fuel-related theft issues at mine sites.