The resource consent hearing in Westport for listed Australian coal miner Bathurst Resources' proposals to mine 2 million tonnes of hard coking coal has been adjourned so potential consent conditions can be considered by all parties.
Bathurst has applied for 16 consents from the Buller District Council and West Coast Regional Council, plus Department of Conservation access and concessions.
Should consents be granted and production begin in December as proposed, Bathurst then wants to ramp up production to 2 million tonnes by the end of 2012.
The 540ha project, based around the Denniston plateau north of Westport, has so far cost Bathurst almost $100 million to acquire numerous tenements.
It has raised about $242 million capital.
Annual wages are estimated at $30 million.
Bathurst's managing director Hamish Bohannan said yesterday the hearing was adjourned so the draft terms and conditions for any consent could be circulated to submitters and council staff for comment, before the hearing resumes for its final addresses.
Consent decisions are generally made within six weeks, followed by a month-long appeal period.
Bathurst's estimated West Coast coal resource is more than 97 million tonnes.
Bathurst has already got agreements in place with Westport Harbour for it to construct a stockpiling and coal loading system to export about 75% of its coal, and another agreement with mining neighbour Solid Energy to take its coal off the plateau to Westport, from where the remaining 25% of Bathurst's coal is sent to Lyttelton on Solid Energy's rail transport system.
