Students work with Coal & Allied on land rehabilitation

Around 20 students from Muswellbrook South Public School have planted native trees at Coal & Allied's Bengalla Mine as part of ongoing land rehabilitation at the site.

The mine provided 120 plants to the school for the students to look after in their greenhouse before the planting.

"The exercise has been a great success both in engaging with the students about the environment as well as helping us achieve our annual rehabilitation targets," said Bengalla Mine environmental specialist Amy Harburg.

"The trees they planted are all native species such as Bull Oak, spotted gum, and Green Wattle, which are used in other parts of our land rehabilitation.

"Each Coal & Allied site has annual rehabilitation targets and the aim is to undertake continuous rehabilitation at all sites with a strong focus on biodiversity and species diversification.

"The 120 native trees the students planted will be included in our rehabilitation targets and will help us to meet species diversity and tree coverage requirements. Our target is to rehabilitate 36 hectares this year, on top of the 94 hectares we've rehabilitated previously over the life of the mine."

The tree planting was one of many environmental projects that the site has worked on during its partnership with the school.

"We are proud of our long-standing relationship with Muswellbrook South Public School, which is providing strong benefits to both parties," Bengalla Mine general manager operations Andrea Sutton said.

"Coal & Allied and Bengalla Mine recognise how important it is that we use land in sustainable ways so it is available for other uses after mining. Over the life of Bengalla Mine, we will continue to manage impacts on our land by undertaking rehabilitation and other land management programmes."