A state government program to assist with the cost of remediating Newcastle’s old mine workings will be extended for four years.
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The $17 million Newcastle Mines Grouting Fund was established in late 2015 as a pilot program to promote new investment in sites affected by underground mining in the city centre by providing more financial certainty to investors and developers.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald said the pilot program had been integral to sustaining growth and city revitalisation.
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“We’re pleased to continue to move forward with the Newcastle Mines Grouting Fund, and because it has been so successful, we’re excited to convert it into an ongoing program to be reviewed in late 2022,” Mr MacDonald said.
“The fund has directly supported developments in Newcastle and its continued existence will help remove the investment disincentive associated with mine subsidence risk.
Historic undermining dating back to early European settlement affects the majority of Newcastle’s city centre.
The legacy of Newcastle’s historical underground mine workings has been known for more than a century but the magnitude of the problem only become apparent in the 1990s.
Most, if not all of the big new buildings built along Hunter Street since the 1980s have required some form of remedial ‘‘grouting’’ to prepare the ground for building.
This involved drilling test holes and then at least partially filling the old workings with a slurry of coal ash from power stations strengthened with cement.
This dried to form a solid mass aimed at preventing the underground tunnels from collapsing or ‘‘subsiding’’.
Under the Newcastle Mines Grouting Fund program, developers pay the full cost of grouting their site up to a capped value.
Using mine subsidence board maps that divide the CBD into areas depending on the type of working and their proximity to the surface, developers pay remediation costs at a rate of either $200, $300 or $400 per square metre.
If the actual cost of grouting exceeds the cap, the fund pays the remaining approved amount.
Prospective applicants need to meet key criteria, such as owning a site within the city centre subsidence zone, obtaining development approval and approval for a mine subsidence remediation plan.
Projects which have benefited from the project to date include a development at 116 Parry Street, the “Parry Grande” project at 122-124 Parry Street and the Verve apartments on Hunter Street.
Test drilling at the 116 Parry Street project revealed workings about 65 metres below the surface, close to where the old mine plans had said they would be.
Matthew Kelly
Matthew Kelly has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. He has been working as a general reporter at the Newcastle Herald since 2018. In recent years he has reported on subjects including environment, energy, water security, manufacturing and higher education. He has previously covered issues including the health and environmental impacts of uncovered coal wagons in the Hunter Valley, the pollution of legacy of former industrial sites and freedom of information issues.
Matthew Kelly has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. He has been working as a general reporter at the Newcastle Herald since 2018. In recent years he has reported on subjects including environment, energy, water security, manufacturing and higher education. He has previously covered issues including the health and environmental impacts of uncovered coal wagons in the Hunter Valley, the pollution of legacy of former industrial sites and freedom of information issues.
