The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission (IPC) has approved an expansion of Bloomfield Collieries’ Rix’s Creek south mine.

Alongside the expansion, the mine now has an extended operating life, with approval to run until 2040.

Bloomfield says Rix’s Creek - located about five kilometres northwest of Singleton in the Hunter Valley - will be able to produce an additional 25 million tonnes of product coal, with royalties of more than $104 million.

The official decision comes after IPC accidentally released an invalid approval before its public hearings for the Rix’s Creek expansion were complete.

The mistake was reversed just hours later.

The major concerns raised by community members were potential impacts on air quality, water, biodiversity, final landform and rehabilitation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate change, noise impacts and economic and social benefits.

The IPC says it “adequately assessed” the uncertainties.

It has approved the expansion of mining activities to the south and northwest of existing pits one and three, saying such works are in the public interest, as Rix’s Creek is an existing mine site.

The IPC has imposed conditions on the approval, requiring the operators to; “Prevent, minimise and/or offset adverse social and environmental impacts, set standards and performance measures for acceptable environmental performance, require regular monitoring and reporting and provide for the ongoing environmental management of the development”.

The decision should bring job security to over 300 miners and boost the Hunter economy.