WATER AND COAL MINING

Mining in the Ulan Wollar area raises many questions concerning interference to the regional groundwater system and long term viability and integrity of the Goulburn River.
There are clear indications that 25 years of coal mining, mine subsidence and dewatering of the underground, has significantly disrupted the groundwater system. This has serious implications for the base flow of the Goulburn River.

Ulan Coal Mine, (operating since 1982) is a 'wet mine' that produces excess water in their underground mine -currently 13ML/day and predicted to reach over 24ML/day of water. Mine subsidence fractures and distorts the rock strata and associated aquifers, the groundwater can become contaminated by salts and other minerals posing a long term risk to the health of the groundwater and river systems. To dispose of some of this water Ulan Coal Mine is applying to discharge its excess water into the Goulburn River under license.

The amount of excess water being produced by Ulan CM, and the ongoing difficulties they have experienced, calls into question Moolarben Coal Mine's water management plans and predicted ‘water make’ of 6.9Ml/day and suggests the maximum prediction of 27Ml/day may be closer to reality.
The proposed Moolarben underground mine extends beneath the saturated Triassic aquifers that feed the river and within 120m of the river banks. While the three open cuts are along a major catchment tributary upstream, also in a water rich area. The actual coal seam is also a major aquifer.

The question of where the underground water is coming from and where this water would normally discharge to the surface is still to be addressed and requires an INDEPENDENT REGIONAL WATER SURVEY before any informed decision can be made about the environmental impacts of this mine.

The million dollar question is what will happen over the long term to the groundwater and river system when mining ceases:
- will the groundwater reservoirs ever recover
- what will be the resulting water quality and salinity levels of water from these ‘degraded’ areas
- what affect will this have on river flow, local bores, soaks and springs and downstream irrigators.
Coal mines around Cessnock have a huge problem with acid and saline water leakage from old coal shafts.

The combined total of 'water make' from
Ulan (17Ml), Wilpinjong (6.2Ml) and Moolarben Mines (6.9Ml) is predicted to exceed 30 Million Litres per day or
11 Gigalitres per year!