Wambo Coal AEMR 2010-2011 - Peabody Energy

1 INTRODUCTION1.1 BackgroundGlobal Acoustics was engaged by Wambo Coal Pty Ltd to provide a summary of thequarterly environmental noise surveys conducted around Wambo Coal Mine (WCM), and theWambo Coal Rail Spur (WCRS) from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011.Monitoring was delayed several times during Quarter 2, 2011 due to train scheduling and thearrival of trains coinciding with acceptable meteorological conditions. As a result of trying tofind a suitable time to undertake WCRS monitoring, the Quarter 2 2011 survey was extendedinto August 2011.The spur and mine operate under separate development consents and have been monitoredseparately. Reporting, however, has been combined in this document.Wambo Coal operates both open cut and underground mining operations from their mine atWarkworth, NSW. The open cut operations include use of heavy mobile equipment in opencut pits, on haul roads and on waste rock emplacements. The underground operations havesurface facilities. Both operations utilise a coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP)including conveyors, bins and other material-handling infrastructure.The WCRS is located between Mt Thorley and Warkworth Village, New South Wales (asshown in Figure 1) and includes the following components:a product coal stockpile and reclaim area, product coal conveyer, train loadout bin, railloop and a rail spur from the Wambo Coal Mine to Mount Thorley; andrail transport of product coal to the market, an intermittent activity that can take place atanytime.Attended environmental noise monitoring described in this report was undertaken on aquarterly basis at six sites during Quarter 3 2010, and five sites during Quarter 4 2010 andQuarter 1 and 2 2011 around the mine. Monitoring was not undertaken at N22 after Quarter3 2010 due to a change of ownership. Figure 1 shows the monitoring locations.Three of the six monitoring locations are within the Noise Affectation Zone, as identified inEIS reports (Wambo Development Project EIS (Resource Strategies, 2003), and Jerrys Plains CoalTerminal and Rail Line Environmental Impact Statement and Statement of Environmental Effects(CMPS&F, 1997)); as such, noise criteria do not apply directly to these properties. For theselocations, measured noise levels from WCM and WCRS are compared against EIS modellednoise results. Compliance with modelled noise levels at these nearest receptors indicatescompliance with development consent criteria at properties further away is likely.11263_R01.docPage 1