The clean-up operation following Thursday's coal waste spill at Clarence Colliery near Lithgow is expected to take many weeks.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is continuing its investigations into the serious environmental leak at the Centennial Coal mine site near Lithgow.
EPA Director South, Gary Whytcross, said the EPA’s focus today (Friday) was on determining the extent of the environmental damage and getting the clean-up underway.
“This is a serious environmental incident with tonnes of coal fines material estimated to have left the site and entered the surrounding environment," he said.
“The environmental impacts of this incident are the focus of our actions at the moment, with two EPA officers and scientists from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) on site and undertaking various sampling.
“The Wollangambe River is our greatest concern and determining the impacts to the river is a priority."
The EPA has instructed Centennial Coal to erect silt fences between the mine site and the Wollangambe River - which flows into the Blue Mountains World Heritage area - to prevent further impacts.
Clean up activities are being undertaken by Centennial Coal but are expected to take many weeks given the extent of the incident and the difficult terrain in which the material has been deposited.
“The cause of the incident is still being investigated and the EPA is continuing to collect evidence to determine potential breaches of the environmental legislation,” Mr Whytcross said.
Conservationists have called on the mining company to pay for fixing the damage.
"Centennial Coal must be required to fully remediate any damage caused to the World Heritage-listed Wollangambe River by the partial collapse of Clarence Colliery’s waste dump near Lithgow in the Blue Mountains," said Nature Conservation Council Campaigns Director Daisy Barham
“It is an environmental tragedy that Centennial Coal has done this to one of the few wild rivers left in NSW.
“The NSW Government must make Centennial Coal pay to fully remediate any harm it has caused to the river and the World Heritage Area, and the Environment Protection Authority must thoroughly investigate how this disaster was allowed to occur.
“Coal waste dump usually only collapse after heavy rain, but this incident has occurred in fair weather, which demonstrates that the design of this dump was clearly flawed. This raises the prospect of more collapses if something is not done to shore it up, so the public has a right to know what Centennial Coal is doing to ensure this never happens again."
