Its Hume Coal subsidiary said the project would create 300 local jobs while protecting an environmentally sensitive region in the Southern Highlands which is more famous for its tourism and quaint mansions.

Details of the project plan were submitted to the NSW government last month as a first step in the approval process.

The new mining system is an Australian first and is designed to extract valuable coal for steel making from the Wongawilli coal seam in the Sutton Forest region, while protecting the ground water and the environment.

The project will mine only 35% of coal from the available reserves, leaving the majority of the coal in the ground to provide long-term ground stability and minimise impacts on groundwater.

Project director Greig Duncan said Hume Coal had undertaken detailed environmental and geological studies and exhaustive engineering design analysis to ensure the best possible outcome for the local community.

“We’re delighted to be able to deliver a plan that offers economic and social benefits to the region while preserving and protecting the things that make this place special,” he said.

“The NSW government has granted us the responsibility of exploring and potentially developing the resources in the Southern Highlands to the benefit of all the people of NSW and we take this responsibility extremely seriously.”

Duncan said the project plan was particularly focused on addressing the potential concerns of local residents including water, subsidence (land movement) and visual amenity.

“The project will not involve coal seam gas, open cut or longwall mining,” he said.

“It will have no impact on town water or surface water such as dams. Furthermore, we’ve taken great care to design a mining system that will have no long-term impact on the groundwater system, ensuring it remains intact and undamaged for future generations.

“There will be no damage to surface infrastructure from ground movements due to subsidence, as can be the case with other underground mining projects.”