Evidence-gated mine lease relinquishment for New South Wales coal regions: process improvements for land transition and legacy hazard management

Authors: Cooper, C Download Paper Open access courtesy of:

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2615_73

Cite As:
Cooper, C 2026, 'Evidence-gated mine lease relinquishment for New South Wales coal regions: process improvements for land transition and legacy hazard management', in AB Fourie, G Boggs, J Heyes & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2026: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2615_73



Abstract:
Mine closure in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, coal regions is increasingly a land transition challenge as regional economies seek new anchors of employment and growth. Regulatory reform in NSW has improved rehabilitation performance, but the system still treats relinquishment as a largely binary end state rather than a staged transition process. This creates delays between the point at which land is physically capable of supporting new uses and the point at which tenure can be released for investment. The paper argues that this timing gap is emerging as a material barrier to regional transition, particularly in the Hunter Valley, where the numbers of highly paid, vocationally trained coal worker are forecast to decline as mines close. Drawing on current NSW policy settings and practitioner experience, including managing the successful relinquishment strategy for the Rhondda Colliery to facilitate redevelopment, the paper proposes an evidence-gated relinquishment model that separates land use planning from tenure release while linking both to measurable closure performance and explicit residual risk positions. It sets out 4 release gates, explains how engineered landforms create a technical ‘long tail’, and recommends a regional transition toolkit to improve certainty for operators, regulators, councils and investors. The core proposition is that NSW does not only have a mine closure problem; it has a land release problem that can be addressed through staged, risk-informed relinquishment.

Keywords: relinquishment, mine closure, mined land transition, residual risk, investment barriers, legacy hazard management

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