Skip navigation
  1. Home
  2. Campaigns
  3. Coalmines
  4. Moolarben Coal Project

Moolarben Coal Project

Yancoal’s Moolarben coal mine is an existing thermal coal mine located in mid-Western NSW near Mudgee, on Wiradjuri Country.

The proposed expansion of Yancoal’s Moolarben coal mine would extend close to the edge of one of the oldest conservation reserves in NSW, the Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve, posing a serious threat to a healthy koala population and their critical habitat.

Coal Mine Proposal

  • Yancoal is proposing to extend the open cut mine, Moolarben OC3, which would clear over 113 ha of endangered koala habitat.
  • Yancoal plans to extract an additional 30 million tonnes of thermal coal until 2034.
  • The expansion is projected to generate 87 million tonnes of lifecycle emissions, significantly contributing to climate change—one of the greatest threats to koalas.

Koalas

  • This koala population has been recognised by the NSW Government as being resilient to the effects of climate change having “survived recent and historical temperature increases, drought and bushfires successfully.”
  • Yancoal admits the project poses a threat to habitat “critical to the survival” of a local koala population.
  • The project poses risks of increased mortality and physiological stress for koalas due to habitat fragmentation, stress, and vehicle strikes.
  • Clearing critical koala habitat would:
    • fragment the landscape, making it more challenging for koalas to move and access food sources,
    • increase the likelihood of vehicle strikes and
    • disrupt breeding activities, further threatening the viability of the koala population in the area.
  • Koalas are facing a perilous situation nationwide from the dual threats of habitat destruction from land clearing and climate change.

  • Yancoal’s proposal would clear habitat critical for not just the koala, but also the critically endangered regent honeyeater and the endangered gang-gang cockatoo.

Politics

  • The NSW Koala Strategy outlines the government’s long-term goal of doubling koala numbers in NSW by 2050..
  • The Minns Government should rule out expanding coal mines in habitat critical to the survival of koalas.