More than a hundredth of the land in the Muswellbrook, Singleton and Upper Hunter council areas was classed as land disturbed by mining, according to a report from the NSW Minerals Council.
The new report details rehab work carried out in 2012 and 2013, and will be released at the NSW Minerals Council Environment and Community Conference.
At the end of 2013 there were 18,283 hectares of land that will require rehabilitation, representing 1.12 per cent of the three local government areas.
During 2013 there were 1148 hectares of new land disturbed and 962 hectares rehabilitated, representing a rehab ratio of 0.8 per hectare, or 80 per cent of land disturbed, the same ratio reported in 2012.
NSW Minerals Council CEO, Stephen Galilee said the new reporting would help to make the industry’s efforts more transparent.
“There is a lot of good rehabilitation in the Upper Hunter, but it’s not always visible to the community,” he said.
“Reporting on the collective rehabilitation efforts of the industry will make the industry’s rehabilitation progress more transparent and help to drive continuous improvement.
“While the nature of coal mining means that there will be years when disturbance outstrips rehabilitation, we want to be open with the community about what is happening on the ground.
“Rehabilitation is an ongoing process, and this new reporting tool will help track progress over the long term.”
Each of the nine coal producers in the Upper Hunter will provide an annual report against six rehabilitation principles, developed to drive progressive rehabilitation and continuous improvement of quality.
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