MELBOURNE, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Anglo American AAL.L said on Friday it would shut its Drayton coal mine in Australia in 2016 after a state panel recommended that the government should block an expansion of the mine, even after the footprint was reduced.
The New South Wales Planning and Assessment Commission said that the Drayton South extension would spoil the region, which is well known for its scenic horse stud farms, and recommended that the mine proposal should not go ahead.
"It is with great difficulty that the Commission has had to conclude that the land use conflict confronted cannot be overcome," the commission said in its review released on Friday.
Anglo American criticised the recommendation, saying the commission had bowed to "unfounded claims" from two horse studs and ignored detailed scientific assessments and advice from 13 government agencies.
"This is the worst possible outcome for our workers, for the Hunter Valley community and for New South Wales," Anglo American coal chief executive Seamus French said in a statement.
The project was initiated in 2009 to replace output from the Drayton mine, which last year produced 3.1 million tonnes of coal for power plants and is coming to the end of its life after more than 30 years.
The planning commission's recommendation came the same day as it approved rival Rio Tinto's Warkworth mine expansion. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N13M0S8