Development of the 45-50 million tonne Bickham reserve was thrown into the spotlight late last year when a state government study found no new underground mining should take place in the Upper Hunter Valley, and just two opencut sites were deemed suitable for potential mining in the area over the next 15 years. One of those sites was Bickham’s reserve.

The study of coal resources in the Upper Hunter Valley, which will guide government decision-making in approving any applications for coal mines in the area, confirmed there was limited potential for coal mining in the region, Planning Minister Frank Sartor said last year.

The report found the Pages River, adjacent to the Bickham site southeast of Murrurundi, should be protected from any significant impact from coal mining.

It recommended new coal mines within the Pages River Catchment undertake a full water resource assessment and draft life-of-mine water management plan as part of any development application, consult the community during its preparation, and have the results reviewed by an independent expert panel.

According to the Scone Advocate Bickham has hired Parsons Brinckerhoff to collect the data for the water assessment and commissioned National Centre for Groundwater Studies acting director Dr Noel Merrick to review the data and findings prior to submission to the Department of Planning.

The DOP approval process will take four to six months. Once the study has been approved Bickham can then undertake other environmental studies before submitting a formal development application for the mine.

So far the company has extracted a 25,000-tonne bulk coal sample from the site and conducted extensive water testing.