Activists have renewed their opposition to mining in the Leard State Forest with a new wave of protests beginning yesterday.
Two people were arrested this morning after locking onto a metal drum filled with concrete at the northern access road to Whitehaven Coal’s $767 million Maules Creek coal mine.
Annette Schneider, a 53-year-old ACT farmer, and Jessica Revello from the Central Coast each locked one arm through PVC pipes that had been installed in the drum, at about 4am.
Police cut them out at about 8am.
Thirty supporters stood nearby holding anti-coal mining banners.
Two Queenslanders, aged 25 and 23, were also arrested and charged with hindering mine machinery yesterday.
They will appear at Narrabri Local Court on July 29.
The pair chained themselves to construction equipment that was being used to build a rail spur for transporting coal.
Leard Forest Alliance spokesperson Helen War said the protesters wanted the state government to stop mining at Maules Creek and give farmers “a fair go”.
A Whitehaven spokesperson said the activists had failed to disrupt mining at the site.
“It is telling that in a week where Whitehaven has just advertised 450 new jobs for the Maules Creek mine, protesters continue to try and disrupt the progress of the project,” the spokesperson added.
“They are motivated by a self-interested green agenda and couldn’t care less about jobs and prosperity in the communities they claim to represent.”
The number of protesters arrested from the Leard blockade camp has reached 231 this year.
The latest actions follow Gomeroi leaders handing a $1500 donation for NAIDOC Week back to Whitehaven in Boggabri on Friday and a protest by visiting Christian leaders at Maules Creek on June 26.