News of the approval in May by the Joint Regional Planning Panel has, residents say, further impinged on the declining koala habitat in Port Stephens, following the more recent extension granted for Hanson's Brandy Hill rock quarry and the potential decimation of 52 hectares of koala-habitat land.

The Anna Bay sand mine allows owner Regusa to extract 50,000 cubic metres of sand a year over 30 years, but according to spokesperson Bob Lander, the operation "would see the site used as a sand quarry for only several weeks of any given year whilst the sand resource was available".

As part of the conditions of approval, the owner has also been ordered to erect a fence "suitable for koalas to climb over". Mr Lander insists that there were no preferred koala feed trees within the site, which has its entrance as 4226 Nelson Bay Road, neighbouring the Baylife church.

"The intact canopy is therefore considered as potential habitat. No koalas were detected within the site ... the 0.59ha of supplementary habitat will be removed does not link to any other area. The mining operations have strict vehicle speeds on the access tracks, specifically to protect any koala should they ever visit the site," he said.

The application received 14 letters of objection from residents, the majority concerned about the potential loss of koala habitat, in addition to road and traffic impact, noise and air pollution. Submissions were also lodged by Tomaree Residents and Ratepayers Association (TRRA), Port Stephens Koalas (PSK) and the Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Ben Van Der Wijngaart, speaking on behalf of TRRA and PSK, said the biggest threat to koalas was loss of habitat and it seemed that authorities, whether they be council or some other organisation, have little consideration for the iconic and threatened species.

"It seems incredible that the concerns of so many objectors to not only the impacts on our roads and koalas, but also on noise and pollution are dismissed out of hand," Mr Van Der Wijngaart said. "Both the TRRA and PSK requested quite reasonable limitations on these impacts, but they have been totally ignored."

The application was assessed by Port Stephens Council, which recommended its approval subject to conditions, including the development of a Biodiversity Management Plan.

These conditions include speed limits on access road; pest management; and [the installation of] exclusion fencing suitable for koalas to climb over.

Mr Lander said that not all of the 50,000sqm was available at this time of the operation (and won't be until the larger dunes to the south move into the area) "with only about half that capacity potentially available with the current dune profile".

"Depending on the movement of the sand dune, the impact on the Transmission Line Easement will determine the operational timings of the mine," he said.

"The number of vehicles on the road is again limited and would be a function of the maximum loading capacity of the operations which has been estimated at five trucks per hour over an operational day of nine hours or a limit of 40 trucks entering and exiting the site each day."

The reasons for the decision from the four-person panel, which included west ward councillor Paul Le Mottee, stated that the proposal was an appropriate use for the site; the impacts of the proposal were able to be mitigated such that the development would not result in unreasonable impact; and the proposed development protects much needed electricity infrastructure.

An Ausgrid spokesperson told the Examiner that a 33,000-volt Ausgrid transmission line crossed part of the Anna Bay mining site.

"Prior to the project being approved Ausgrid wrote to the developers to outline safety requirements for any work in the vicinity of the high voltage power lines. Ausgrid regularly patrols our assets and where issues such as sand build up impacts on safety clearances or network integrity, we arrange for the problem to be managed in an appropriate way."