Two Blue Mountains mines a step closer

The NSW environment department has recommended that two Blue Mountains mining projects go ahead, despite environmentalists' fears the plans will threaten unique rock formations.

In a statement, the Department of Planning and Environment stressed that Coalpac's Invincible Colliery and Cullen Valley Mine modification applications were "significantly smaller" than the expansion plans the company put forward last September.

That application, which proposed mining to within 50 metres of rock formations known as pagodas, was rejected by the department soon before Coalpac went into administration.

But the department on Thursday recommended the company's latest applications be approved, under the condition that the company maintain a 300-metre buffer between open-cut mining operations and large pagodas or a 100-metre buffer for smaller rock formations.

"The two projects are around 150 hectares in size combined, compared to the 800 hectare proposal which we knocked back last year," the department said.

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW says the new plans will risk a large area of the Ben Bullen Forest near Lithgow being destroyed and unique pagoda rock formations being destabilised.

"One of the company's arguments for resubmitting plans was that it needed to continue mining to pay for rehabilitation of the areas it had already despoiled," Council CEO Kate Smolski said.

"(This) raises serious questions about the adequacy of the environmental bonds that large coal mining companies are required to post to cover the costs of rehabilitation if they go bust."

The Coalpac proposals will now be considered by the Planning Assessment Commission, which will have the final say.