Boggabri Coal mine shut down

A group of people have shut down Idemitsu’s Boggabri Coal Mine today as part of ongoing protests to protect Leard State Forest and the surrounding Maules Creek community from coal mine expansion.

The group is calling on Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and ANZ to stop funding both Idemitsu and Whitehaven Coal’s destruction of Leard State Forest. Two activists have scaled the coal crusher at Boggabri Coal shutting down all operations and dropping a banner that reads “Protect Our Water (in English); Water is for Everyone (in Japanese)”.

“It is a breach of the people’s trust, not only the people of Australia, not only the people of Japan, but the people of the world, when large financiers such as JBIC and ANZ disregard their own environmental and social responsibility policies for a gamble on coal.”