Bathurst Resources now has all the approvals it requires from the Buller District Council for its Denniston Escarpment Mine.
The council had signed off yesterday on Bathurst's 27 operating plans - which run to thousands of pages, Buller Mayor Garry Howard said.
"Hopefully, this will be a path for Bathurst to be able to proceed."
However, he was unsure if the Department of Conservation had completed its review of the plans.
The plans explain how Bathurst will implement the conditions on its proposed mine.
Bathurst has recently indicated it could be 12 months before it starts mining at Denniston. It wants to wait until the coal price, which this week sat at US$108 a tonne, rises to US$140.
However, the company has said it would start work securing the mine site and establishing facilities there as soon as the operating plans were approved.
