New mines face strict checks: Qld govt September 23, 2013 - 12:05PM Groundwater will be protected, the Queensland government says, after a new report warned of threats posed by new coal mines in the Galilee basin. The report, commissioned by the anti-mining group Lock the Gate Alliance, says proposed coal mines will drain the equivalent of two-and-a-half Sydney Harbours of groundwater from the basin in the state's central west. But Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps says environmental assessment processes will ensure groundwater is protected when new mines are developed. It's no surprise that a report that's been commissioned by the Lock The Gate Alliance would come up with those types of assertions. I don't think it's necessarily so," Mr Cripps told the ABC. But what I can say, not having seen the report itself, is that there are very strict, very thorough processes in place for the assessments of projects. Several mining companies have proposed more than 34 open cut and 11 underground coal mines along a 270-kilometre stretch of the cattle-grazing country. Authored by former senior Queensland government water bureaucrat Tom Crothers, the report says the mine projects combined will have an enormous impact on groundwater levels. Mr Crothers suggests they could also interfere with the Great Artesian Basin. The report says federal and state governments have failed to assess the cumulative impacts the mining projects will have on groundwater relied upon by farmers and towns. Mr Crothers estimates the mines would consume a total of 1354 billion litres between 30 and 90 years - the estimated life of the various projects. This is the equivalent of two-and-a-half Sydney Harbours removed from underground storages. Towns affected include Jericho and Alpha, west of Emerald. The Lock the Gate Alliance says mining approvals in the area should be suspended until the government undertakes further studies.