To be developed by mining giants Glencore and Peabody Energy, the mine - located near Jerrys Plains - expands open cut operations at the existing United Wambo Coal Mine and United Colliery and will extract 150-million tonnes of run-of-mine (ROM) coal over a 23- year period.

The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment finalised its assessment of the $381 million project last November and referred the matter to the IPC for determination amid community opposition.

They also conducted a public meeting.

Key issues raised in oral and written submissions to the commission, included: air quality; biodiversity; noise, vibration and blasting impacts; water impacts; final landform and rehabilitation; health and social amenity impacts; climate and greenhouse gas emissions; and economic and social benefits.

This mine's main attraction for the IPC, however, was its description as a "brownfield" site.

In its statement on the reasons for approving the mine, the IPC stated the predicted impacts of the project had been appropriately assessed and minimised through the application of suitable mitigation, management measures and conditions of consent - the project is in the public interest.

The commission noted the conditions of approval are designed to prevent, minimise and/or offset adverse social and environmental impacts; set standards and performance measures for acceptable environmental performance; require regular monitoring and reporting; and provide for the ongoing environmental management of the development.

In a first for the IPC in regards to consent conditions, the mine's operators must prepare an Export Management Plan for the development, to the satisfaction of the Planning Secretary.

This plan must set out protocols that require the applicant to use all reasonable and feasible measures to ensure that any coal extracted from the development that is to be exported from Australia, is only exported to countries that are:

a) Parties to the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; or

b) Countries that the Planning Secretary considers have policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise be similar to policies that would be required of that country if it were a party to the agreement at (a) above; as at the date of sale.

The purpose of the Export Management Plan is to ensure that all reasonable and feasible measures are adopted by the applicant to minimise greenhouse gas emissions identified as Scope 3 emissions in the EIS to the greatest extent practicable.

It includes:

B33: The applicant must not start Phase 1B until the Export Management Plan is approved by the Planning Secretary.

B34: The applicant must implement the Export Management Plan as approved by the Planning Secretary for the life of the development.

B35: The Planning Secretary may determine that the Export Management Plan should be amended if it is satisfied that a change to obligations arising under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or Paris Agreement, or the policies of a country that is within B32(b) above, necessitates an amendment to the Export Management Plan.

B36: The Planning Secretary may determine that the applicant is no longer required to implement the Export Management Plan if due to the existence of other state or federal legal mechanisms introduced by the NSW or Commonwealth Governments regulating the subject matter of the Export Management Plan, there is no longer any need for the Export Management Plan to be implemented by the applicant.