The proposed longwall mine was knocked back by the previous NSW Planning Minister Tony Kelly in March this year after the project failed to address potential surface water quality impacts on the Wyong Valley.

The project was also found not to be in the public interest after uncertainty around ecological and heritage impacts arose following a lack of surveying.

Wallarah 2 coal project general manager Kerry Heywood told ILN the project was dismissed because of matters largely related to further detail on subsidence.

“The previous determination report by the [Department of Planning] in March 2012 stated that ‘while coal mining could potentially be carried out, the project could not be approved at this point in time’ due to a requirement for further information about a number of matters associated with the most westerly part of the proposed mine area, which would not be mined for more than 20 years,” Heywood said.

He said the rejection of the last application by Kelly was not based on any potential impacts on water supply and the new project application would ensure the Central Coast water supply was protected.

"We also want to make it absolutely clear that water was not an issue in the previous determination – two independent studies, the Planning Assessment Commission report and the Department of Planning report found that it was not an issue that should prevent the project from being approved,” Heywood said.

Upon the project’s dismissal, 40 consent condition recommendations were made and separate studies and reports were requested.

Following this recommendation, a project team said it had assessed the reasons for its refusal and had undergone studies with the view of submitting the new application by mid-2012.

The proposed mine is expected to inject more than $1 billion into the local economy over the first three years of construction and create 300 direct jobs and another 700 indirect jobs in the wider community.