Mangoola is located 20km west of Muswellbrook and approximately 10km north of the township of Denman.

Rush told local news service, the Muswellbrook Chronicle, the coal mine had come at a cost to the community.

“The mine has caused a substantial fracturing of a close-knit rural community which has lost approximately half its population as a result of the mine’s development,” Rush was quoted as saying.

“Road infrastructure approved for the project was woefully inadequate to support traffic generated by the mine and the company [Xstrata] has struggled to comply with consent conditions, leading to breaches and fines.”

Rush also took the opportunity to apologise to the Wybong community for the role he played in originally supporting the mine’s development and turning his back on the community which opposed the mine.

Wybong Action Group president John Shewan told the news service the mine had been an ecological burden.

“Formerly productive properties lie in ruins or are falling into disrepair, vines and fruiting groves are left untended promoting festering pest animals and insects into the remainder of the community,” Shewan reportedly said.

“Noise and coal dust is impacting residents whose respiratory illnesses are becoming chronic and at times life threatening, yet improve immediately when they leave the Hunter Valley.”

Xstrata’s Australian thermal coal operations produced 49.8 million tonnes of thermal and semi-soft coal in 2011, a 12% increase on the previous year, primarily due to the successful commissioning of the Mangoola open cut mine ahead of schedule.