General News
27 June, 2025
OCAA advises Co-ordinator General against cancelling Acland rail loop
The Oakey Coal Action Alliance (OCAA) is advising the Office of the Co-ordinator General not to allow New Acland Mine (NAC) to cancel a rail loop it is required to build from Jondaryan to the mine site at Acland.
The Oakey Coal Action Alliance is opposing the change request by NAC to the Co-ordinator General on the following eight grounds, in a document seen by the Champion:
1) The Co-ordinator General mandated the abandonment of the Jondaryan Rail Loading facility and construction of a rail loop for Stage 3 on the basis of careful consideration of the effects on Jondaryan residents and local road infrastructure.
2) The Co-ordinator General previously granted a request by New Hope to postpone the building of the line to account for an unplanned closure of the mine.
3) New Acland Coal (NAC) has not demonstrated with sufficient precision that it has complied with its obligation to describe the relevant impacts and mitigation measures it will impose as required under Section 4 and Section 5 in Schedule 2 of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Regulation 2020. It has provided studies but only said that recommendations from these studies will be investigated to inform further improvements.
4) NAC has not submitted details of proceedings against it for alleged breaches of environmental conditions, including alleged illegal mining, which OCAA submits are required and relevant in an Environmental Impact Statement application and should be able to be considered by the Co-ordinator General as part of the request for change of a condition
5) NAC has previously provided extensive documentation and planning outlining the engineering and economic feasibility of the project.
6) The approval given to Stage 3 by the Land Court was premised in part by the construction of a rail loop.
7) The additional impact to the health of Jondaryan residents, including additional dust, but importantly diesel from loading trains, has not been modelled by NAC
8) The additional road traffic and noise will significantly affect the lives of Jondaryan residents.
OCAA spokesperson Paul King said legal action is not on the table at the moment.
“There are no current or planned legal challenges at this stage - it will depend on the mine’s compliance,” he said.
Concerns over the issue of coal dust levels at Jondaryan were raised at a recent Toowoomba Regional Council meeting, where Council discussed including a recommendation in its submission to the Office of the Co-ordinator General asking that NAC be required to construct an enclosed coal storage facility at the current Jondaryan Rail Loading facility, which NAC wishes to make permanent.
NAC General Manager Dave O’Dwyer said the Mine will work with the Co-ordinator General over any issues that may be raised in the proceedings.
In other Mine news, NAC announced last week that it has purchased a Caterpillar 993 loader for operations, sourced from Hastings Deering Toowoomba.
The Caterpillar 993 loader weighs more than 135 tonnes, is 16.5 metres long, and has a bucket capacity of 17.5 cubic metres, which is equivalent to the size of a car.
The arrival of the loader on site coincides with another major milestone, with NAC’s 300th full-time employee starting work on site last month.
All 300 employees live in the vicinity of the Mine, with no fly-in, fly-out workers.
The longest commutes for most employees are from the localities of Toowoomba, Pittsworth and Dalby.
