The mining company behind an environmental disaster near Newcastle says plans to clean-up a creek that has been smothered in cement are well advanced.
Work to fix major subsidence from Glencore Xstrata's West Wallsend underground mine went horribly wrong, leaving a 250-metre long cement creek in the Sugarloaf State Conservation Area.
The company says it is finalising remediation plans and will be ready to submit them in the next week or two.
A legal notice to find a solution to the debacle has been extended from later this month to October 1.
Glencore Xstrata's Allyn Hamonet says the clean up will be very labour intensive.
"It won't be a quick job," he said.
"There is a large amount of material, it is difficult terrain and it may be that we have to pick at it and remove it by hand.
"But if that's the way it's got to be done then that's exactly what we'll do.
Mr Hamonet says the plans involve small teams working in sections of the creek at a time, with each section to be approved by authorities before moving on to the next one.
"It's going to be a very difficult process.
"The terrain is terribly hard to access and it looks like it'll have to be an intensive labour job but we're committed to getting the people in there as safely as we can and getting the material removed as quickly and as efficiently as possible."