“The coal industry has been working with the Office of Environment and Heritage for 12 months to provide this high level picture of how the industry could further minimise dust emissions,” Tan said.

“It’s an important contribution to the ongoing research and development we’re doing to evaluate current practices and to find new ways to further reduce particulate emissions.

“We welcome the introduction of Pollution Reduction Programs, but you can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to implementing best practice.

“Each mine has a different set of operating circumstances and local factors, so what is reasonable and feasible on one site might not be on another.”

The implementation of the program follows the release of an independent report last June by the DECCW which found that many mines had best practice measures in place but that much more could be done.

The DECCW study compared dust management practices of mines in the greater metropolitan region with international best practice standards and came up with a number of recommendations to improve local performance.

"Overall the study found that while coal mines had adopted some elements of best practice there is room for improvement in terms of dust mitigation and management," DECCW Director General Lisa Corbyn said.

The report’s findings identified four key sources of PM10 dust emissions from coal mining activities ¬– haul trucks travelling on unpaved roads (40%), wind erosion of exposed areas and stockpiles (27%), bulldozers (8%) and blasting (6%).

“When combined these activities produce over 80% of PM10 emissions from coal mining operations in the greater metro region,” Corbyn said.

“By achieving significant improvements in these areas we can make a real difference to overall dust emissions.”

Tan said the Pollution Reduction Programs complemented other actions the industry was taking including:

Research, now underway, into reducing dust from haul roads, which is the biggest source of dust emissions at coal mines;

Funding for the Upper Hunter Air Quality Monitoring Network, to give regulators, the industry and the community a better understanding of regional air quality;

Innovations at minesites such as seeding and fertilising overburden from the air to produce vegetation to bind it together and protect it from the wind; and

Real-time environmental monitoring to help modify operations and minimise dust in certain weather conditions.

Tan said concerns about dust should be addressed in a realistic and practical way.

“We know we have to do better on dust management. It’s especially important in the Upper Hunter where the scale of the industry’s growth means there is a cumulative impact,” Tan said.

“That’s why the industry is taking action to minimise dust, and coal miners are working with regulators to assess practices at individual minesites against the best practice review.”

Tan said there were concerns about calling the program “Dust Stop” as it set expectations that were unachievable, which was not fair on the industry or the community.

“Just like construction, agriculture and other industrial activities, mining will always generate some dust, but that won’t stop the industry from working hard to minimise those emissions,” Tan said.

“We hope the results will lead to new ways of managing dust and a more efficient use of water at minesites.”