Councillor raises climate concerns as Helensburgh coal mine reveals big plans to expand
Peabody aims to achieve a 12-year extension of underground mining at Helensburgh's Metropolitan Mine
While the NSW Government is still assessing Peabody's State Significant Development application to add two longwalls to Helensburgh's Metropolitan Mine, the US coal mining company is preparing another application that would involve more than 10 times the number of longwalls and continue mining to 2044.
What the company is now calling “Stage 1 of the Metropolitan Continuation Project” has been controversial owing to concerns that two new longwalls could harm drinking water, the environment and Aboriginal heritage.
Now Peabody has submitted a scoping report for Stage 2, a 12-year extension of underground mining that would add 22 more longwalls west of existing operations, to extract about 31 million tonnes of coal.
“Stage 2 would help maintain continuity of Metropolitan's coal supply to domestic steelmaking, with more than 40 percent of our product today supporting Australia’s steel industry,” Metropolitan Mine’s general manager, James Hannigan, said in a statement last week.
“It would also safeguard mining jobs and uphold the rigorous safety and environmental standards we remain committed to."
The mine currently provides 400 local jobs and both stage 1 and stage 2 would secure those jobs, a Peabody spokesperson said.
Greens call for independent determination
Objections to Peabody's stage 1 plans included concerns over threats to local drinking water. With the United Nations last week warning the world will overshoot its 1.5°C target to limit global warming, a Wollongong City Councillor is flagging Australia's commitment on climate action as a concern in stage 2.
Greens Wollongong City Councillor Deidre Stuart said: “Late last year, the NSW Net Zero Commission’s Coal Mining Emissions Spotlight Report made the finding that, 'Continued extensions or expansions to coal mining in NSW are not consistent with the emissions reduction targets in the Climate Change Act or the Paris Agreement temperature goals it gives effect to'.”
During stage 1 consultation, the NSW Government received more than 200 submissions, mostly opposed to Peabody's plans. Unlike Sutherland City Council, Wollongong City Council did not file an objection. As reported in Cracks show in debate over coal mining in water catchment, at a council meeting in August 2025, Labor councillors voted against Cr Stuart’s motion to object and request the application go to NSW Government consent authority the Independent Planning Commission.
“Definitely this project should go to the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) for determination,” Cr Stuart told the Illawarra Flame today.
“NSW Planning can undertake an assessment and provide their recommendation as to whether the project should be approved or not, but the IPC should then determine whether the project is approved or not.
“Involvement of the IPC at this last step, as the consent authority, provides much greater transparency and accountability for the community than if NSW Planning assesses and then the Planning Minister or some NSW Planning official determines the project. IPC communications with various stakeholders are made public so any person can read what was asked and what was said. The IPC also provides independence from NSW Planning and can scrutinise the assessment report provided by NSW Planning.
"And really, it should not have to be up to concerned community to fight to make sure that this project is determined by the IPC.
“The current Labor NSW government claims that their position is that they support independent assessment of all resources projects, but this position does not seem to have been acted upon. With less than a year before the next NSW election, when will NSW Labor Planning Minister Paul Scully’s promise that 'resource proposals are all assessed by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC)' be acted upon?”
Maps provided by Peabody as part of the Stage 2 state significant development application process
Where Stage 2 is at
The first steps in Stage 2 have begun, with a scoping report lodged with the NSW Government, environmental impact studies underway and community feedback invited. A Peabody spokesperson pointed to a portal on the company’s website where the public can ask questions and said corflutes will be put up around its operations in public areas with a QR code linking to the website.
“2027 to 2029” is when the mine plans to submit its stage 2 SSD application, which would involve community consultation, and NSW and Federal Government assessment.
Peabody has owned Helensburgh’s coal mine for the past 20 years and says it plays “a vital role” in the Illawarra's economy, having delivered “more than $385 million in royalty payments to the NSW Government to help fund public infrastructure”.
In the past decade, Peabody says it has put $1 million into more than 50 community organisations in the Illawarra, including Helensburgh Tigers Rugby League Club and environmental school programs at Holy Cross Primary School.
Business Illawarra has selected the Metropolitan Mine as a finalist in two categories for the 2026 IMB Bank Illawarra Business Awards: outstanding employee of the year and excellence in innovation. “Each finalist has earned their place by demonstrating excellence, leadership and commitment to their business, their people and the wider region,” Business Illawarra director Coralie McCarthy said when finalists were announced.
Peabody says stage 1 and stage 2 will secure 400 jobs. Photos supplied
Vocal opposition to Stage 1
Following historic waterway pollution in conservation areas bordering the town of Helensburgh, in February 2026 the Illawarra Flame reported that a social licence might be the coalmine's biggest hurdle in plans to expand.
Last year Helensburgh residents also criticised the state government’s public consultation process as poorly advertised. Vocal local groups opposed to more mining under the Woronora water catchment include Protect Our Water Alliance (POWA) and the Illawarra Knitting Nannas Against Greed (IKNAG). In May 2026, at a demonstration outside the office of Planning Minister and Wollongong MP Paul Scully, the Nannas performed protest songs, including No Mine to the tune of Darling Clementine.
The status of stage 1 (described as a “modification”) is listed as “More Information Required” while in the assessment stage on NSW Planning’s website. In April, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure said it was seeking advice from the Independent Expert Advisory Panel for Mining.
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Genevieve Swart
