In its application Felix said Ulan had a net water surplus of some 2720 megalitres per year and Moolarben was predicted to have an annual water deficit ranging from 310ML to 960ML in years six to 16 of the mine’s operation.

Felix said Moolarben had an agreement with Ulan to access 1000ML per year of its surplus water.

“This would reduce the requirement for Moolarben to extract groundwater to supplement its water supply and would assist Ulan in managing its onsite surplus water,” Felix said.

Water from the pipeline is expected to flow from September 2010.

Moolarben also received NSW Department of Planning approval for the construction of a 200ML water storage dam.

The dam is part of initial water management plans and will be within the footprint of Open Cut 1 before being mined through in subsequent years.

Other approved modifications include relocation of run-of-mine coal facilities, such as the dump hopper, primary crusher, rejects bin and associated coal conveying facilities further south of the main infrastructure area, to achieve better efficiencies.

Support infrastructure, such as the office and workshop facilities, will also be relocated 500m northeast of their previously approved position.

Located in the Upper Hunter Valley, Moolarben is expected to ship its first coal through Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group’s new export terminal, also under construction, in March 2010.

For 2010, Moolarben is expected to produce 6 million tonnes of thermal coal with 4.5Mt destined for export and 1.5Mt for the domestic market.

Of this, 3.43Mt of export contract tonnage has already been contracted.

Stage 2 development approvals are expected to be granted this year, which will give the operation an extra longwall mine and an open cut, taking the total to two longwall mines and four open cuts.

Full ramp-up will see Moolarben exporting up to 13Mt of product coal for export and domestic markets, with 8.8Mt per annum from open cut mining and 4-4.2Mtpa from longwall mining.