The Newlands certification is the eighth for a Glencore coal operation and the sixth at a Queensland site, following previous sign-off on 73ha at Newlands in 2017; almost 400ha at Rolleston in 2018 and 2019; 99ha at Collinsville in 2020; and 732ha at Oaky Creek in 2017.

NSW sites Westside - 38ha in 2020 - and Ulan - 52ha in 2020 -also achieved sign-off on areas of rehabilitation.

Newlands became the first operation in Bowen Basin mining history to achieve certification for rehabilitation of coal mine overburden spoil in 2017.

Newlands operations manager Clayton Stansbie said the latest certification at the site related to land mined in the 1990s, with regulators determining rehabilitation of these areas had met completion criteria for post-mining agricultural purposes, including cattle grazing.

"It's an achievement that is being celebrated across our entire workforce because integration of rehabilitation into our daily mine planning and operations is the key to delivering these outcomes," he said.

"This is not only reflected in the government certification process, but also in our annual rehabilitation results: Newlands has rehabilitated more than l00ha of mined land every year since 2017.

"It means we are making significant progress on our rehabilitation work while active mining continues rather than leaving a large commitment at the end of mining."

Glencore general manager of environment & community John Watson said all sites were delivering strong performance with rehabilitation.

"We understand and accept that governments and our communities expect us to deliver progressive, quality rehabilitation and our results are showing a continued focus on those outcomes," he said.

"In total, our sites have now completed more than 20,000ha of rehabilitation, equivalent to almost the entire city of Sydney."