The key target seams lie within the Newcastle coal measures and include the Wallarah (where present), Great Northern, Fassifern and Upper Pilot seams.

The MCCO (Mangoola Coal Continued Operations) Additional Project Area is located in the north-western coal-producing region of the Hunter Coalfield. The coal seams within the MCCO Additional Project Area form part of the Late Permian Newcastle Coal Measures of the Singleton Super Group. They gently dip to the west at about 2 degrees below horizontal and reach a depth to the floor of the lowest seam of approximately 125 m at the lowest point relative to the highest topographical location within the MCCO Additional Mining Area.

In order of increasing depth, the key target seams for mining within the Proposed Additional Mining Area include the:
- Wallarah seam
- Great Northern seam
- Fassifern seam
- Upper Pilot seam.

Mining will be generally carried out utilising hydraulic excavators, trucks and dozers following the blasting of competent material. The mine plan has been developed generally in accordance with the Anvil Hill EA (Umwelt, 2006) and subsequent modifications and supporting documents.

Prior to the commencement of mining areas, pre-strip operations will be conducted to remove vegetation and topsoil. Prior to the commencement of any soil disturbance works, appropriate surface water management controls will be implemented as per the Mangoola Coal Water Management Plan.

During the MOP period, coal extraction will be occurring in the North West of the Main Pit and will progress in a South Westerly direction around Anvil Hill. Mining in the South Pit will be occurring in the South East and will progress in a North Westerly direction around Anvil Hill with the pits eventually merging together in future years, consuming all non-mined land within the planned mine footprint.

Blasted overburden material is loaded by hydraulic excavators into rear dump trucks for transportation to the overburden emplacement areas.

Final exterior dump faces are designed at a general slope of 10 degrees or to match in with the existing topographic landscape. The dump is slightly undulating for drainage based on a natural landform design. The out of pit overburden emplacement areas will have a maximum height of 240 m Australian Height Datum (AHD).

The following parameters have been adopted for the placement of waste in the spoil dumps:
- height of dump face to a nominal 20 metres where practical; and
- any carbonaceous and CHPP coarse reject materials will be dumped in discrete layers to be capped with at least 2 metres of inert material.

The Mangoola Coal CHPP produces a range of export and domestic thermal coal products, consequently the plant is of two product type configuration with the capability of operating in a single product mode. The two products are produced from the CHPP simultaneously with a low ash export coal being produced at the same time as high ash thermal coal.

Raw coal is delivered from the open cut excavation by mine haul trucks. ROM coal is typically dumped directly into the ROM hopper but if this is not possible, it is dumped on the ROM stockpile.
When truck deliveries are not maintaining the desired CHPP feed rate, ROM coal is reclaimed from the ROM stockpiles.

Once processed, the CHPP product is stacked on stockpiles up to 20 m high from the base of the stockpile using the cone ply method of stacking. The total freefall capacity of the stockpile is approximately 250,000 tonnes. Dozers can be used to push coal away from the free fall stockpile to increase the total s ........