Angela Hellewell

Two conservation groups opposing Whitehaven Coal’s Winchester South coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin have won court approval to adduce late expert evidence on possible climate scenarios.

A court has given the green light to BHP’s bid to extend a Queensland coal mine over the objections of an environmental lobby group, saying the court’s acceptance of climate change did not mean it would reject all applications for fossil fuel projects.

Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal has abandoned a challenge to a ruling that ended its plan for a coalmine in central Queensland on the grounds that the project would contribute to “foreseeable and preventable life terminating harm”.