Community Relations

Waratah Coal aims to be a valued member of the local community. We aim to engage openly and build trust and respect over time.

State approval for mine and rail

On Friday 9 August 2013 the Coordinator-General completed his assessment of Waratah Coal’s Galilee Coal Project (Northern Export Facility) for mine and rail development in the Galilee Basin, north of the township of Alpha, central Queensland.

The Coordinator-General’s evaluation report is a conditional approval, coming after more than four years of rigorous environmental assessment and public consultation.
The conditional approval establishes clear principles and procedures to manage amongst other matters, surface and groundwater impacts, rail line flooding, and social impacts.

Commonwealth approval for mine and rail

On Friday 19 December 2013 the Honourable Greg Hunt MP, Minster for the Environment, approved the Galilee Coal and Rail Project in the Galilee Basin, Queensland.
The Federal Minister for the Environment released his recommendation report on the environmental impact statement and approved the coal mine and rail project. The approval is subject to, amongst other matters, Waratah Coal submitting and complying for approval, disturbance limits, management plans for water Monitoring and habitat offsets, biodiversity offset funding, rewan formation connectivity research plan, and numerical groundwater model.

Abbot Point port proposal

Abbot Point port is being promoted by state government as Galilee’s gateway to the world. Abbot Point is the government’s preferred port for developing the specialist coal-handling infrastructure required to export coal from the Galilee Basin.

Waratah have applied to state government for spare port capacity to handle initial project tonnages and looks forward to developing future capacity consistent with project demands and government port master plans.