The Independent Planning Commission of New South Wales (Australia) has granted approval for two State development applications covering the continuation of the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) North and South open cut coal mines in Muswellbrook Shire and Singleton. The decision provides for a 19-year extension of the 26 M/year HVO thermal coal mining complex (NSW Independent Planning Commission press release, 30/09/2026).
Under the decision, NSW's Independent Planning Commission (IPC) has authorised HVO North to continue operating from December 2026 through 2045, while HVO South will be allowed to operate until 2042, extending its current approval from 2030. The HVO complex is jointly owned by Yancoal (China) and Glencore (Switzerland) and must also obtain federal environmental approvals by 31 December 2026.
HVO had previously been authorised to produce up to 42 Mt/year of run-of-mine (ROM) coal, but the companies committed to lowering this cap to 26 Mt/year as part of their application to extend the operations.
The approval process has been strongly contested, resulting in a controversial assessment involving climate and environment groups, unions, state authorities and more than 10,000 public submissions. Indeed, 809 MtCO2eq will be emitted into the atmosphere across the project’s lifetime. The commission stated that greenhouse gas emissions from the mine would “contribute to climate change impacts on the people, economy and environment of the Hunter region, NSW and globally”.
However, it considered that these effects were “outweighed by its benefits to the Hunter region and NSW, including continued employment, economic activity, support for local business, ongoing royalties and taxation revenue”. “The approval comes with obligations relating to greenhouse gas emissions, including implementing measures to limit coal exports to jurisdictions that have policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement, maximising the use of renewable energy at the mine and purchasing additional carbon offsets”, said the commission.
In March 2026, the NSW state government pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% in 2030 compared to 2005 levels, and by 70% in 2035, targeting carbon neutrality by 2050, and announced that it would prohibit the development of new greenfield coal mines under its new "NSW Coal Industry 2026–50" policy, while still allowing extensions and exploration of adjacent areas associated with existing coal mines (KEI, 23/03/2026).
Australia was the world’s second-largest coal exporter after Indonesia in 2025 and reached 352 Mt this year according to our data (Enerdata Global Energy Research).