Rocky Hill Coal: groundwater impact assessment

The Rocky Hill Coal project was a proposed open-cut coal mine located approximately 100 km north of Newcastle, New South Wales. The project occurs within the Gloucester Basin and targets the Gloucester Coal Measures. We were engaged to complete a groundwater impact assessment as part of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement. This involved review of historic data and field studies to gain an in-depth understanding of the hydrogeological regime for development of the conceptual groundwater model.

A key consideration of the project was to quantify the potential for the project to impact upon the Avon River and Waukivory Creek occurring immediately to the west and south of the mine area. The potential for cumulative impacts from planned coal seam gas and active coal mining within the region also required quantification. To address these issues, we developed a numerical groundwater model in MODHMS to simulate natural groundwater processes and system stresses from mining and in order to predict potential changes due to the project. The model also simulated groundwater/surface water interactions using the various capabilities of MODHMS.