Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said the start of veneering followed two-months of dust monitoring at seven sites along the corridor to the Port of Brisbane.

The tests were conducted by the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Sciences Branch of the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts.

The data collected over the past two months from Oakey, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Tennyson, Fairfield, Coorparoo and Chelmer will be compared with a second round of ‘post-veneer’ testing to assess the impact of the newly installed technology.

“The dust monitoring results will provide detailed data that will help ensure debate in relation to an issue of community concern is fully informed and based on independent scientific evidence,” Roche said.

The veneering solution is an environmentally friendly, water-based mixture sprayed on top of coal loaded onto rail wagons. It dries to form a flexible crust over the coal, physically inhibiting dust.

As part of the revised New Acland Coal Mine Stage 3 proposal, the current loading facility including profiling and veneering is being moved eight kilometres from Jondaryan’s outskirts to a remote section of mining lease area.

The QRC said the new Jondaryan loading facility also includes apparatus to sweep the sills of each wagon clean.

Veneering is accepted best practice in dealing with dust emissions from loaded coal trains and involves the spraying of a biodegradable, non-toxic polymer solution to the surface of loaded coal before leaving a loading facility.

The veneer forms a crust which, based on experience in central Queensland, has reduced dust emissions by up to 75%.

Results of the baseline monitoring and evaluation reports will be published on the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection website.