11 October, 2021
New Hope reaffirms push for approvals as Stage 2 winds up
Members of the New Hope Group leadership team say they are confident about the future of New Acland Mine Stage 3 even as the current mining operation looks to move into care and maintenance mode by the end of the year.
New Hope Group Chief Executive Officer, Reinhold Schmidt, thanked the remaining staff at New Acland Stage 3 for their hard work this financial year.
“The workforce at New Acland is doing an outstanding job in the meantime, continuing to safely produce quality coal and expertly managing the ongoing rehabilitation process,” he said.
“Production has steadily declined at New Acland as existing extraction areas are exhausted and the site moves towards care and maintenance at the end of the 2021 calendar year.”
Chief Financial Officer Robert Bishop said last coal will be extracted from New Acland Stage 2 later this month.
“New Acland is faced with nearing the end of coal for Stage 2 and is looking to cease operating at the end of October with last coal out of that pit,” Mr Bishop said.
He said the Land Court hearing date is expected in November with the company working to keep the site ready for Stage 3.
“The intention is to keep that site ready for a ramp up into Stage 3,” Mr Bishop said.
“We have a Land Court hearing date for November.
"We are confident that we will get the right decision.
“It is the third time we have been in Land Court and our expectation is that we will get the right result and that we will be able to get jobs back in the market in that area and provide that critical injection of investment back into the local community.”
Mr Schmidt said it is unknown exactly when an outcome will come from the Land Court but he believes it will be some time in February or March next year.
