1.3.1.3 Determining the preliminary assessment extent

Coal mines, both open-cut and underground, and coal deposits (which may become new coal mines) are widely distributed across the Hunter subregion, from the headwaters of the Goulburn River in the west to the cluster of mines along the Hunter valley floor between Muswellbrook and Singleton, to the various mines in the vicinity of the subregion’s coastal lakes (Figure 3). Water connections between these and water-dependent assets are contained almost entirely within the subregion because surface water drainage from 99.5% of the subregion is to its coastal lakes and/or the sea. Since there are no plans for coal resource development in the small area of the subregion that drains into the Namoi river basin (pink circle in Figure 3), there is no need to extend the PAE any further downstream of its current extent within the Namoi river basin. This small extension of the subregion into the Namoi river basin reflects a geological, rather than hydrological, basis for defining the subregion in this area (see Section 1.1.1 in McVicar et al., 2015). Thus the PAE for the Hunter subregion has been defined as the subregion itself.

Figure 3

Figure 3 Location of the Hunter preliminary assessment extent (PAE)

The PAE coincides completely with the subregion boundary. The small area contained within the pink circle flows into the Namoi river basin and has no current or proposed coal resource development.

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 2, Dataset 3)

Last updated:
18 January 2019