Idemitsu Australia Resources is shining a public spotlight on its Boggabri Coal operations in a bid to generate further community support for the mine.
The company last week invited the media to inspect its operations.
It comes as anti-mining protests continue to frustrate coal and coal seam gas (CSG) miners across the Narrabri Shire.
The company recently gained government approval for a 652-hectare expansion, which will boost production from five to seven million tons per annum by 2016.
It will also increase the mine’s footprint by 652 hectares.
The expansion includes construction of a coal handling and preparation plant, a 17-kilometre rail line that will connect with the main track to port, a rail load-out facility and stockpile areas, and an electricity upgrade.
Local roads will also be modified, with a section of Leard Forest Road to be closed and local traffic diverted along Goonbri Road, which will be upgraded.
The expansion is expected to take 18 months to complete.
Idemitsu chief operating officer Rod Bridges said he wanted to keep the public up to date as the extension proceeded.
“It’s certainly in the preliminary stages of the coal handling plant and of the rail line expansion,” he said.
Workers are currently clearing the land for the new railway, and motorists on the Kamilaroi Highway
can see their progress.
A long trail of pink flags is visible from the road and dictates where the track is being built.
It will extend over the Namoi River and highway via new bridges to be erected.
Mr Bridges said protesters had hampered operations, forcing contractors to stop work and delaying activity.
“There’s certainly been a lot of protester activity in the months of December and January,” he said.
“That seems to have abated in the short term with the relocation of the protester camp, but we’re certainly not complacent about the activity.”
Idemitsu remains committed to its cause, despite these interruptions.
It wants to employ local people with local families and is rehabilitating the forest as the mine progresses, Mr Bridges added.
He said Boggabri Coal already had “significant community support”, and hopes to boost this by making its expansion transparent.
Sustainability and environment manager Jan Green said more than 125 hectares had been rehabilitated with the forest’s native species of narrow-leaf iron bark, spotted gum and whitebox.
Seeds were collected from the original forest and have been replanted.
“So far, we’ve gotten fairly good reports for our rehabilitation work,” Mr Bridges said, adding that there had also been a rise in the number of speckled warbler birds in the area.