‘Beggars belief’: calls for federal intervention after extension to ‘carbon bomb’ open-cut coalmine approved by Queensland government

Hail Creek is responsible for about 20% of Australia’s coalmine methane, while only producing 1% of the country’s coal Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Environmental groups have called on the federal government to intervene after Australia’s most methane-polluting open-cut coalmine was approved for extension. A proposed expansion of the Hail Creek coalmine in central Queensland, described by conservationists as a “carbon bomb”, was backed by the state’s government on Wednesday. The mine, operated by multinational Glencore, has been approved to expand its footprint and extend its lifespan for three years, to 2038. The extension project will mine an additional 24m tonnes of coal. The approval will allow Glencore to clear 600 hectares of koala habitat described by experts as “nationally significant”, to expand the mine west of Mackay. In granting the approval, the Queensland environment department deemed “the risk to the long-term conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity” as low, and the project’s influence on the climate crisis also as “low by comparison to g