The Mount Pleasant Operation coal resource is located in the Permian Wittingham Coal measures of the Singleton Supergroup. Lithologies comprise mostly sandstones, siltstones and coal measures with minor conglomerates and tuffs. Coal seams amenable to open cut mining occur in eight correlated seams and include the Upper Piercefield (Warkworth) Seam to the lowermost Edderton Seam (PPK Environment & Infrastructure, 1997).

The open cuts at the Mount Pleasant Operation comprise four named open cuts (South Pit, North Pit, Warkworth South Pit and Piercefield Pit2).

Development Consent DA 92/97 (as modified) allows for the extraction of 197 Mt of ROM at a rate of up to 10.5 Mtpa and allows for mining operations to be carried out until 22 December 2026.

Mining related activities have commenced and have included:
- development of the South Pit at its south-eastern extent;
- continued construction of haul road; and
- commencement of rehabilitation of the Eastern Out of Pit Overburden Emplacement adjacent to the South Pit.

Development of the South Pit at the south-eastern extent of ML 1645 will progress to the north and west during the MOP (Mining Operations Plan ). The initial portion of the Overburden Emplacement has been constructed between the boxcuts and the eastern boundary of the lease, within the footprint approved by the Development Consent. The Overburden Emplacement is a short haul from the open cut, and will develop into a bund that assists to control the potential environmental impacts of the operation. Mining will continue to progress northwards before developing to the west throughout the remaining mine life (outside of this MOP/RMP term), in accordance with Development Consent DA 92/97.

Mining Operations
Mining at the MPO has commenced in the south-east of the deposit and will gradually develop north and west over the mine life. Truck and excavator/shovel excavation will initially commence in a terrace mining sequence to reduce haul profiles, increase coal quality variability and reduce overall operating costs.

Overburden is the general name of the material that extends from below the topsoil layer to the upper coal seam. Interburden is the material that separates all subsequent coal seams. At the MPO, the overburden and interburden materials vary in physical and geochemical properties, in accordance with the geology of the area and the extent of exposure to weathering.

Mining during the MOP term will continue to utilise open pit surface mining methods, involving conventional truck and excavator/shovel excavation removing pre-strip and overburden sequences and coal seam interburden materials, hauling ex-pit and in-pit to overburden emplacements. Dozer push may also be utilised where practical.

Overburden and interburden material will continue to be primarily placed in the Eastern Out of Pit Overburden Emplacement during the MOP.

To minimise the impact of the operation on Muswellbrook, night shift waste dumping will be on benches some 10 metres (m) below the top level of the eastern face of the Eastern Out of Pit Overburden Emplacement.

The surface topography at the MPO is undulating, with gullied areas that contain small amounts of unconsolidated deposits. Excavation will require removal of a thin topsoil layer, the area will then be prepared for drilling and blasting of the weathered layer of overburden. In some areas there may be small quantities of unconsolidated material that can be removed without blasting. These are likely to be small in area and exist in gully lines on the lower slopes.

Ground preparation for blasting will generally be required on the steeper slopes encountered at the MPO. This will be undertaken with large mine dozers. The dozers will be used to bench working pads that are suitable to maintain drill stability.

Coal will be extracted by either an excavator/hydraulic shovel or loader, depending on seam thickness and equipment scheduling requirements. A small percentage of coal seams may require ripping by dozers, or may be blasted. Extracted coal will be loaded onto a fleet of mine haul trucks for transport to the CHPP.

ROM coal will be trucked to a ROM dump hopper and transferred to the sizing station and stacker by conveyors. ROM coal may be temporarily stockpiled in the active mining area prior to being trucked to the ROM dump hopper.

During 2019, MACH Energy completed the following construction activities on site, including:
- continued development of the Mine Infrastructure Area (MIA) buildings, including expanding a section of the office building;
- construction completion of the Mine Water Dam (MWD), ED2, ED3 and Fines Emplacement Area;
- construction completion and commissioning of the Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP) including:
- Dense Medium Separation (DMS) Module 1 and DMS Module 2;
- wash modules; and
- Coarse and Fine reject systems. [2019, AR, p.17]

COAL HANDLING AND PREPARATION
ROM coal will be hauled to the ROM dump hopper and either fed to the CHPP or, if quality permits, supplied directly to product stockpiles following sizing (i.e. bypass coal).

The CHPP will include two coal processing modules with a combined design capacity of approximately 1,500 tonnes per hour (tph). The CHPP will include:
- coal sizing;
- scr ........