“Unjust projects are approved by the greedy few, but paid for by the vast majority,” Sam Hagen, a 25-year-old environmentalist said in a Leard Forest Alliance statement.

“This mine is without integrity to the core, from the immediate community that it impacts to the larger picture of climate change that it will exacerbate.”

Hagen and his accomplice, 23-year-old social worker Courtney Hagan, are expected to join the 229 activists already arrested in this region since January.

Despite considerable opposition, Whitehaven CEO Paul Flynn recently told NBN News that the project was ahead of schedule.

The company aims to launch a recruitment drive and has estimated that a 450-strong workforce was needed when the mine fully ramps up.

The vast open cut mine is initially targeting 6 million tonnes per annum run of mine but has approval to ramp up to 13Mtpa ROM.

This rate is expected to be reached within three years of first coal output, which remains on track for March 2015.