Whitehaven Coal hosted the Werris Creek coal mine community open day at the Quirindi showground on Saturday, drawing more than 1000 people to the event.
As Whitehaven prepares to transition its Werris Creek operations to the rehabilitation phase, the community open day event was an opportunity to celebrate its workers and the broader community.
Whitehaven’s general manager of community engagement Darren Swain said the event was a fantastic way to bring employees, their families, and the local community across Liverpool Plains together.
“For almost two decades Whitehaven Coal has been operating its Werris Creek site and over that time we’ve been welcomed into the community,” he said.
“It was fantastic to see more than 1000 people come through the gates on Saturday and enjoy a great day of free family activities, including face painting, jumping castles, pony rides, and a petting zoo.
“Community members on the bus tours particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to plant a tree in the rehabilitation area.”
Whitehaven’s took the opportunity to exhibit its mining processes, with machinery on display including a crane and grader, excavators and excavator bucket, and a shuttle car for transporting coal underground.
The day also included displays from local emergency services, including the SES and Rural Fire Service.
More than 40 Whitehaven staff attended the event, including members of the open cut operations, community, rehabilitation and environment, biodiversity, and recruitment teams, who were on hand to talk to the community about their work.
“The guided bus tours of the Werris Creek mine site were particularly popular, with more than 350 people getting a final behind-the-scenes look at how a working coal mine operates,” Swain said.
Whitehaven is expected to conclude coal production at the Werris Creek site in the first quarter of 2024, with all employees being offered jobs at Whitehaven’s other operations as part of the transition.
The company will continue rehabilitation at the site, aiming to establish an open box gum woodland. So far more than 235 hectares have been rehabilitated.