4 August 2021

Whitehaven encourages public comment on Winchester South Project

Whitehaven Coal today welcomes the announcement that the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for its Winchester South Project is now available for public comment. The public notification period will run for six weeks and community members and other stakeholders are encouraged to have their say on the proposal before 15 September 2021.

The Winchester South Project is located 30km south-east of Moranbah, in Queensland’s well-established Bowen Basin, will entail nearly $1 billion in capital expenditure and generate 500 jobs during construction and 500 jobs during operations. If approved it will involve the construction of a new open-cut coal mine, a coal processing plant and a rail loop to connect with the existing Bowen Basin coal rail network, providing access to port multiple ports.

At full capacity the mine is targeting run-of-mine (ROM) production of up to 17 million tonnes per annum of coal to supply the international market for about 30 years. Once washed Winchester South will produce up to 11 million tonnes per annum of primary metallurgical coal product for the steel industry and a secondary thermal coal product for energy generation.

The EIS, developed after years of planning and consultation with stakeholders, details the proposed design the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts, and the prospective benefits. The public notification period now underway is part of the Queensland Government’s coordinated project assessment process.

Whitehaven Coal Managing Director and CEO Paul Flynn welcomed today’s announcement.

“Since acquiring Winchester South in 2018, our team has developed a detailed project design that capitalises on the site’s position in a well-established coal region,” said Mr Flynn.

“As our first development in Queensland, we’ve built productive relationships with the community, local council, the Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation, government, and other stakeholders, all of whom have been critical to developing the proposal.

“This Project will support ongoing economic development in regional Queensland and importantly in the customer countries where the product will be used. We encourage any interested parties to have a say as part of this public notification process.”

Find out more about Winchester South here. See the full EIS and have your say on the Queensland Government website from 4 August to 15 September 2021.

Winchester South Project highlights

• $1bn investment
• Long-life opportunity to supply international markets for ~30 years
• Metallurgical coal for steelmaking and thermal coal for energy generation
• 500 construction jobs
• 500 operational jobs
• $756 million additional net economic benefit to QLD (NPV terms)
• $4.9 billion to QLD suppliers (NPV terms)
• $563 million in royalties to the QLD Government (NPV terms)
• $202 million in additional wages into the community (NPV terms)

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