How will waste be treated?

Both the construction and operational phases of the project will generate mine waste material, so we have considered how this will be reused or considerately disposed of so that it does not compromise or impact upon the environment.

Responsible handling of reject is key to our plans and we have investigated many options with the decision being taken to dispose of the waste material underground within the mine voids.

We have also thought carefully about water usage at the mine and plan to utilise any water from within the mine itself, collect surface run-off water and use the brown wastewater from the shower blocks. The water used will go through an onsite treatment plant to be re-used in the coal washing process and the only mains water required will be for the office facilities, including the canteen.

Another key consideration was to directly challenge our team, during the design and planning stages, to reduce the creation of waste wherever possible in order to keep off-site disposal and its associated environmental impacts, notably through road transport to a minimum.

An Environmental Statement was prepared and submitted with our planning application, in May 2017, and this gives further details as to how WCM plan to address this important issue.