Written submissions have reopened for the proposed Moolarben Coal Complex OC3 Extension Project in New South Wales, and a two-day public hearing is scheduled for early December after an amended application returned to the planning process.
The hearing is due to take place on Wednesday 2 December and Thursday 3 December at the Mudgee Showground. Each day is scheduled to begin at 9am Australian Eastern Daylight Time. The state planning commission is accepting registrations from people who wish to speak, as well as written submissions on the proposal.
What the application covers
The state-significant development application concerns an extension to open-cut mining at the Moolarben Coal Complex, near Mudgee. Moolarben Coal Operations Pty Ltd is seeking consent to extend the existing OC3 open-cut pit and develop four new open-cut pits along the floor of the Moolarben Valley.
The proposal concerns an operating mine rather than a wholly new site. Mining at the complex began in 2010, and the existing operation is approved until 31 December 2038. The extension application remains a proposal before the Commission. The December hearing is part of the process used to consider it; it is not an approval or a refusal of the development.
A newly appointed panel will conduct the hearing and determine the application. That makes the hearings a formal opportunity for community members and other participants to address the panel before a decision is made.
Why the process has restarted
The application was first referred to the Commission in December 2025. A public hearing had been scheduled earlier in the process, but it was postponed while the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure considered amendments requested by the applicant.
The Department has now agreed to the amendment and supplied the Commission with a supplementary assessment report. That document sits alongside the Department’s 2025 assessment report and considers the application as amended.
The supplementary work focuses on changes associated with the second amendment, particularly biodiversity enhancement and greenhouse-gas emissions. It assesses those changes while retaining the earlier assessment of parts of the proposal that were not changed by the amendment.
One element considered in the supplementary assessment is a proposed expansion of a habitat enhancement area. The amended proposal would increase that area from 188 hectares to 813 hectares. The assessment also considers an updated greenhouse-gas analysis. Those matters form part of the material before the Commission; they do not settle the final planning decision in advance.
Issues for the hearing
The planning assessment identifies biodiversity, greenhouse-gas emissions, water and Aboriginal heritage among the key issues for consideration. The hearing will allow registered speakers to present their views in person or remotely. The sessions are also scheduled to be livestreamed, allowing people who are not speaking to follow the proceedings.
Earlier written submissions made to the Department and the Commission will remain before the panel. The reopened period gives people an opportunity to comment on the 2025 assessment and the new supplementary assessment, including the changes made since the hearing was first postponed.
Speaker registrations close at noon Australian Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday 24 November. Written submissions close at 11.59pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday 10 December. The later written-submission deadline means material can be lodged after the two hearing days, while the panel’s consideration remains under way.
A decision is still pending
The current development is procedural but substantial: an amended state-significant mining proposal has returned to a public hearing after further departmental assessment. It does not mean that the extension has been authorised, nor does it determine whether the proposal will proceed in its amended form.
For residents of the Mudgee area, environmental groups, the applicant and other interested parties, the December dates mark the next public stage in a long-running planning application. The Commission’s eventual determination will be the next point at which the proposed extension’s formal status changes.
