The project determination was made by the state’s Planning and Assessment Commission.

The approval was signed off by three PAC members on Friday and was one of the 102 advanced-stage applications to be considered by the commission.

The approval also allows Awaba, located west of Lake Macquarie, to lift production by 10% to 880,000 tonnes per annum.

The production will come from existing mining areas, along with the new East B mining area slated for development.

As part of the journey to gain approval, Centennial agreed to complete a groundwater monitoring program to be included in the existing water management plan for the Stony Creek shallow and alluvial aquifers.

In another sign the state government is tackling the backlog of coal mining projects awaiting determinations, the Bloomfield open cut coal mine received approval to modify its power supply and overburden emplacement arrangements.

This government approval was signed off on Monday by Planning and Infrastructure Department deputy director-general of development assessments and systems performance Richard Pearson.

The O’Farrell government aims to honour its election pledge of scrapping Part 3A of the state’s planning laws, which will eliminate the power of the planning minister to approve coal mining and other projects.

Centennial is a subsidiary of Thai energy giant Banpu.