1.2.3.1.17 Mount Penny Deposit

Mount Penny is a thermal coal deposit located 60 km north-east of Mudgee on EL 7406. It is owned by Cascade Coal Pty Ltd (Cascade Coal) and includes 95.3 Mt of measured resource and 22.3 Mt of indicated resource (Mt Penny Coal Pty Ltd, 2011, p. 4). The initial development plan for Mount Penny involved a new open-cut mine, producing 5 Mt/year of ROM coal over at least 21 years (Mt Penny Coal Pty Ltd, 2011, p. 8, p. 19). Cascade Coal intended to use the produced thermal coal for export and domestic markets. Production was to have been supported by facilities such as a bi-directional rail loop, administration and storage complex, workshop, and CHPP (Mt Penny Coal Pty Ltd, 2011, p. 8).

The exploration licences originally held by Cascade Coal were cancelled by the NSW Government in 2013 following adverse findings by the ICAC (NSW Parliament, 2014). The future of the Mount Penny Deposit is currently uncertain.