Over $7 million to grout old mine workings in Lambton and purchase homes on Roberts Circuit and McCubbin Way after multiple subsidence events.

One of the nine properties that were acquired will be auctioned on Saturday by Subsidence Advisory NSW – a new agency that has taken over from the controversy-plagued Mine Subsidence Board – after the home was demolished and the land was grouted. 

A spokesperson for Subsidence Advisory NSW hailed the sale of 30 Roberts Circuit as a “positive move forward” for the community. 

The remaining eight properties were being repaired and would be sold at staggered dates, to ensure the local market wasn’t negatively affected by a mass sale. 

”Proceeds from the sale will go back into the Mine Subsidence Compensation Fund...to compensate owners whose properties have been damaged through no fault of their own,” the spokesperson said. 

Stephen Mancinelli, who owned the property for auction when its foundations began to shift, said the incident had been traumatic but it was “good to move on”. 

Of the sale, he said: “The issue will be whether people are still concerned about the mine subsidence but it should fetch substantial money I believe.” 

Residents of Roberts Circuit and McCubbin Way, near the old Skyline movie site, were left devastated when about 30 homes were damaged – some severely – by the partial collapse of the Old Lambton Colliery workings in 2012 and 2014. 

However Subsidence Advisory NSW confirmed it had now completed an extensive grouting operation to stabilise the entire area; which saw about $1.4 million spent on shoring up the ground with about 800 trucks worth of concrete.

“Survey results confirm the grouting was successful and we are confident there will be no further ground movement in the impacted area,” the spokesperson said. 

Over $6 million was spent purchasing the properties of landowners who wished to move out of the area. 

According to the agency, the homes were acquired at market value based on the condition they were in prior to the subsidence events. 

“The severity of damages of each property varies considerably. Many properties do not have extensive damages but were sold at the landowners’ request,” the spokesperson said.

“Property owners were also provided with compensation for reasonable costs incurred as part of the sale including a provision for stamp duty for them to purchase another home of a similar value.

For the homeowners that chose to stay and repair their properties, all but one have had their compensation claims settled.

The remaining claim is for a home that was demolished and is in the final stages of being rebuilt. 

Mine subsidence expert Professor Philip Pells praised the work of the new chief executive of the subsidence agency, Katherine McInnes, who has presided over an overhaul of the claims process and the introduction of a case management system. 

“She deserves a big boost for fixing what was pretty rotten,” he said. 

But Mr Mancinelli – who has now moved to Cardiff Heights – disputed the agency’s claim that he was not “adversely financially affected”, saying that the market value of a home was not necessarily the same as the replacement value. 

“To buy a block of land and build the same home in the same area, you couldn’t do that for market value,” he said. “There are very few properties in that state and that style of home.” 

The developments have raised questions among other victims of mine subsidence in the Hunter who have not been offered acquisitions and where grouting work has not been performed. 

But the Subsidence Advisory spokesperson said the event at Lambton was unlike other cases because the mine workings were around 30 metres deep, compared to a usual depth of about 10 metres where only a single residence was likely to be affected. 

“The collapse of these deeper mine workings resulted in ground movement and damages over a larger area than what is typically observed with a mine subsidence event,” they said.