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Coal miner Bathurst Resources is defending its plans to expand its Canterbury Coal Mine into another 18 hectares of forest, farms, and wetland. The 38 ha mine at Coalgate, near Darfield, supplies 95,000 tonnes of low sulphur coal annually to regional customers, including dairy factories. Environmental groups feared for fragile eco-systems - including aquatic life in nearby waterways - if it gained the resource consents needed to expand.
