Meanwhile, investment has been discouraged by adverse legal decisions to approved mining projects, such as Rio Tinto’s Warkworth mine extension.
Treasurer Bruce Baird has said that NSW has lost $90 million in up-front payments because of former mining minister Ian Macdonald’s decision to give the Mt Penny mining lease to political ally Eddie Obeid without tender.
Greens mining spokesman Jeremy Buckingham asked Hartcher in parliament on Friday if he knew how many job losses were lost in the state as a result of the downturn in the coal sector.
He later reported that 1476 jobs had gone, including 709 suppliers and contractors in the mining industry as a whole because of a global downturn in commodity prices.
“It's the coal mining [specifically] that's affected,” Hartcher said.
“We're determined to maintain the mining industry in this state.
“But the decisions of individual companies, of course, are made by them, and the government's only aware of them once they're announced.”
The state’s corruption watchdog, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, found that former minister Macdonald had acted corruptly in issuing exploration licenses for Mt Penny and Doyles Creek without going to tender.
“Those resources, our resources, the state's resources, were effectively given away,” Baird said.
There had also been a delay of $50 million in annual royalties on an ongoing basis, he said.
“A loss of up to $50 million a year in royalty payments (is) enough to employ an additional 900 teachers or to construct an additional seven public schools," he said.
“Those matters, along with the report we are going to get from the ICAC commissioner, will be considered when it comes to the future of those leases.”
Last week, Rio Tinto subsidiary Coal & Allied started its appeal against the NSW Land and Environment Court’s decision to overturn last year’s development consent for its Warkworth extension – warning 1300 jobs were at risk because of the delay.
Rio Tinto Energy chief executive Harry Kenyon-Slaney said even if a successful outcome could be delivered through the legal system, it would take months and come too late to avoid impacts on production and jobs at Mount Thorley Warkworth mine.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to avoid the loss of production and associated jobs for our workforce of 1300 people at Mount Thorley Warkworth mine, and that is why we are proceeding with this appeal,” Kenyon-Slaney said.
“However, we’ve already spent close to four years trying to secure approval for this mine extension and it is unlikely the legal system can deliver an outcome in time to avoid impacts on Mount Thorley Warkworth.”
The case is being supported by a cross appeal lodged by the NSW Planning Minister Brad Hazzard.
