Airly is located within the southern part of the Western Coalfield of NSW, on the western edge of the Sydney Basin. The area is underlain by Triassic sandstone of the Narrabean Group, which is underlain by the Illawarra Coal Measures. The Lithgow Seam within the lower Illawarra Coal Measures, which has an average thickness of 3.4 m, is the target coal seam at Airly Mine. The topology of Airly Mine is dominated by Mount Airly and Genowlan Mountain. The Grose sandstone of the Triassic Narrabeen Group outcrops throughout the plateau and cliffs of Mount Airly and Genowlan Mountain with small areas of Tertiary basalt outcrop at the higher elevations. The Triassic strata are up to 200 m thick. The Permian Illawarra Coal Measures outcrop around the Triassic formations at lower elevations, including the zone between Mount Airly and Genowlan Mountain. The Lithgow Seam, within the lower Illawarra Coal Measures, is the target coal seam at Airly Mine. The seam outcrops completely within the proposed mining area.

Airly Mine is an underground coal mine located in the Western Coalfields (Figure 1), within the Sydney Basin, approximately 40 kilometers (km) north-northwest of Lithgow and approximately 171 km northwest of Sydney. Coal mining to date at Airly Mine has been bord and pillar mining within the Lithgow Seam since 2014 as well as panel and pillar mining since June 2019. Thermal coal is mined at Airly for the export market and is extracted from the Lithgow Coal within the Illawarra Coal Measures using bord and pillar mining methods. The operation uses a continuous miner system to extract coal from underground. Full production capacity is 1.8 Mt/year. Mine Design and Mining Operations. During the MOP term, Airly’s underground mining operations will use a combination of first workings and partial extraction methods within ML 1331 (Mining Lease) and extend into the eastern portion of AUTH 232 (Authorisation). A Mining Lease Application (MLA) will be completed during the MOP (Mining Operations Plan) term prior to commencing activities outside of ML1331. The Airly mine design has taken into consideration the many sensitive features within the MOP areas including cliffs, pagodas, groundwater resources and Aboriginal and European heritage sites and infrastructure. Mining methods will vary based on differing levels of environmental sensitivity and depth of cover and will be undertaken in accordance with approved Extraction Plans, which will be undertaken in a conservative staged ........

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