Mayfield Mines

A Mine Subsidence and Flooding Problem in Newcastle

  • footpath subsidence

    Footpath Subsidence

    Maitland Road Footpath Subsidence

  • Legacy Mining in Mayfield

    Old mines are sleeping....

Mine Subsidence and Flooding in Newcastle Mayfield Mines

For over 15 years, we have been experiencing mine subsidence and mine water flooding from abandoned mines (Legacy Mines) in Mayfield, Newcastle.

Initially, we had some cracking in our buildings, together with water flowing into the lower warehouse. This mine water significantly increased, with over 20,000,000 litres of mine water per year flowing into the lower warehouse. Sinkholes, road subsidence, footpath subsidence broken stormwater and Hunter Water assets, even water flowing out of kerbs and roads – all is not enough to convince the NSW Government that there is a problem.

This water problem has now spread, affecting our other buildings, neighbour buildings, roads, footpaths, parks and more. Water is permanently running through our office and warehouses and has destroyed our businesses. We also have subsidence damage through all buildings and car parks. It has completely affected our old and current staff, our loyal customers and our family.

It’s taken a very long time to find the truth, and understand the situation that has affected us. It exposes bureaucracy, wilful negligence, waste and a situation that is anything but normal.

Latest News

  • 38 Maitland Road Subsidence Damage Repair

    Legacy Mine Maps for Mayfield Have Been Received

    After 15 months of lobbying the NSW government, we have finally received the geo-referenced abandoned “legacy” mine maps. We now have direct correlation between the location of the abandoned mine network with over 100 instances of subsidence damage in our properties. Water flowing “randomly” from under the footpath and into our properties (and others along […]

  • Mayfield Mine Map 1886

    NSW Resource Regulator Approves Release of Abandon Mine Maps

    After ongoing discussions with the NSW Resource Regulator, they reversed their decision in not releasing the map information to us, and after signing a 50 year non-disclosure agreement and paying $420, we received their abandoned mine map information.   Sadly, information we had collected over these last years is more detailed that the documents received. […]

The Merry Go Round

Water starts flowing into one building, then all buildings. Our walls have cracked, cave-ins have occurred. We contact Hunter Water, Newcastle Council, Subsidence Advisory, Legacy Mines, and the NSW Government who all told us they are not responsible for the current problems.


Over many years, evidence collected suggests that poor mining practices created a unique situation where all abandoned mines in the area are interconnected and full of water. These old mines are often shallow in depth, and as they subside, they cause damage to infrastructure with water from broken stormwater and Hunter Water pipes feeding extra water in the mine system which then flows into our properties.

Dye placed in stormwater pipes found its way into our property, when broken water mains opposite our properties were fixed, water significantly stopped flowing into our properties. We have other evidence to show direct causation. However each time we showed the information to the government agencies, they further restricted information to us or avoided us completely.

Over time, departments have blamed each other. But the facts are that the NSW government owns the abandoned mine network, and various government agencies, acknowledges that water from broken government assets are feeding water into the mine network, which in turn is causing us substantial losses.

The latest information from Courtney Houssos MP (Minister for Natural Resources) is that our problem is not in the public interest to solve, even though its affected many residents in Mayfield and continues to affect many public assets. Litchfield Park in Mayfield has been permanently flooded for the last 12 months....

No matter what department is being blamed, all are owned by the NSW government.....15+ years of merry-go-round.

Abandoned Mine Management

There is no public online record to investigate and view abandoned mine information. Why is that?


Our properties are heavily affected by abandoned mines with substantial water and mine subsidence damage. During this investigation we found that the entire abandoned mine network was plagued with bad mining practices including mines connected together, wrong map locations and more. These mines were flooded, and with no remedial work, the land was sold to the public.

Initially we were told that there were no mines beneath our properties. Then later, we were told there was one mine, then as we lobbied various government departments we found the truth. That our properties are plagued with a number of mines that honeycomb our land causing subsidence damage with water coming out of these mines vertically out into our buildings. These mines are connected to mines under Maitland Road, which are then connected to mines to at least Mounter Street in Mayfield.

Subsidence Advisory has actively withheld information , not only to us, but to other government departments with regards to our situation. This mine agency continues to withhold information, even though they understand by doing so causes losses and damage. Our requests to discuss our case with senior management continue to be ignored.

We need a public and geo-referenced registry for ALL abandoned mines, and a pro-active government willing to help. Not sure why abandoned mines affect you in Newcastle, please read more here.

The Fine Print….

NSW - Responsible Mining?


In 2019, Legacy Mines managed 645 mines. Their state budget was $2.8million to remediate sites to modern standard.

Most people read “Currently around $2.3 billion is held in security deposits for mine site remediation and rehabilitation.” But this is not allocated to Legacy (abandoned) mines.

Mine Subsidence


"Under the Coal Mine Subsidence Compensation Act 2017 there is no allowance for improvements damaged due to water if in fact the water is being disseminated through a coal seam"

We have been told by engineers that Subsidence Advisory has misled us. That subsidence damaged due to underground mining should be covered by the government.

Legacy Mines


“LMP has no statutory or legislative responsibility to remediate any mine site The LMP operates on a goodwill basis and assumes no responsibility for the abandoned mine sites once works are complete.”

“Projects on private land are usually not funded unless there is also a clear public benefit. Landowners with legacy mines on their land are responsible for any remediation and managing risks.”