The Upper Hunter Mining Dialogue held its Pasture Restoration Field Day this week, bringing agronomists, government, industry and community stakeholders together to share their knowledge and see mine rehabilitation land first hand.

Around forty people attended the field day, visiting areas at Glencore’s Liddell coal mine and the Bloomfield Group’s Rix’s Creek operations that have been rehabilitated into pasture land.

With industry representatives sharing their successes and challenges, participants welcomed the strong commitments from the mining sector to establish stable, productive and sustainable grazing land.

Agronomist experts including Neil Nelson, Bob Freebairn and Suzanne Boschma were joined by NSW Department of Primary Industries researcher Sean Murphy sharing their valuable knowledge and expertise.

Other organisations participating in the field day included representatives from the Singleton Beef and Land Management Association, NSW Farmers Association, Local Land Services NSW, Singleton Council, Muswellbrook Shire Council, NSW Resources Regulator, and the NSW Department of Planning & Environment.

The Dialogue secretariat thanks community Joint Working Group representative Jeff Esdaile who was the inspiration for the day and provided valuable assistance to bring the day to fruition.

We also extend thanks to the teams at Glencore and The Bloomfield Group for their assistance in facilitating the site tours.