Despite an open-cut mine explosion landing two workers in hospital, the miner has been cleared of criminal charges.
Maules Creek Coal and its parent company Whitehaven Coal had four convictions successfully overturned in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday after the court found explosives were handled appropriately.
The miner was found guilty of breaching environmental protection laws in 2024 after an August 2020 blast at the Maules Creek open-cut coal mine in Boggabri in northern NSW.
It had used nearly 900,000kg of explosives in its bid to extract coal, which was about 50,000kg more than its modelling had called for.
The resulting explosion exceeded noise limits and left two workers at a different coal mine more than a kilometre away needing hospital treatment.
Maules Creek Coal was ordered to pay a total fine of $200,000 and publish a notice outlining the judgment and penalties.
But on Wednesday the appeal judges found it was not clear that the overloading of the explosives caused the excessive noise and that the company was not proven to have acted incompetently in setting up the blast.
A miner living 12km from the Maules Creek Mine, near Boggabri, said the “terrifying” explosion was bigger than anything she had experienced in her 17-year career.
Another local told the original NSW Land and Environment Court hearing that she had wondered if it was an earthquake and her lounge chair rocked during the blast on August 20, 2020.
Two workers at the adjacent Boggabri coal mine were taken to hospital for checks after the incident, with one saying the “almighty pop” left him with tinnitus and severe sleep problems in the months afterwards.
But the trio of appeal judges unanimously found the Land and Environment Court could not find the company failed to meet its obligations under its environmental protection licence.
“Subsequent modelling … raised reasonable doubt as to the allegation that the materials were not handled in a proper and efficient manner,” Justices Julie Ward, Mark Leeming, and Desmond Fagan wrote.
They quashed Maules Creek Coal’s convictions and instead recorded a verdict of acquittal on four charges.
A final determination on the costs stemming from the original trial will be heard in the Land and Environment Court at a later date.