Operations at Bathurst Resources’ Canterbury coal mine have come to a halt today.

Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion have blocked the access road into the mine.

Activists locked themselves into two vehicles across the access road, preventing entry into the mine from 4.30am, while other activists locked themselves inside diggers on the mine site.

Bathurst Resources is currently seeking consent from Environment Canterbury and the Selwyn District Council to expand the coal mine and increase its coal extraction.

Protestor Julie Thompson said “it is outrageous that Bathurst is applying to expand this coal mine in the middle of a climate emergency. We need to be retiring coal mines, not expanding them.”

“We have closed the mine until further notice, because the climate crisis is already causing profound suffering across the world. Coal can’t cook the climate if we leave it in the ground.”

Extinction Rebellion say the majority of coal from the mine is burned at Fonterra milk factories to dehydrate milk into milk powder.

The group says that the mine is expanding to feed Fonterra’s coal addiction.