Villagers spent Christmas assessing the damage from the December 23 blast from the Glendell mine about a kilometre from their homes.

The incident comes less than a month after the state government and the Minerals Council vowed to build closer ties with Upper Hunter communities affected by mining activities.

The mine’s owner, Xstrata, is investigating the incident, however, it says the blast was within legal limits.

Resident Thelma Dejong said the blast, which occurred at 1.24pm, was extraordinarily powerful, even by Camberwell’s standards.

‘‘Every wall in the house shook – luckily my grandsons lifted the gingerbread house off the table or it would have smashed,’’ she said.

‘‘The children spent four hours putting it together.’’

Her daughter Deidre Olofsson arrived home on Thursday afternoon to find her wall clock on the ground along with two Franklin Mint plates.

After lodging a complaint on the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water hotline, Ms Olofsson said she was contacted by mine management who apologised for the blast’s impact.

‘‘They said it [the shock] shouldn’t have happened even though it was within their legal limits,’’ she said.

An Xstrata spokesman James Rickards said the company took its commitment to work closely with the community seriously.

‘‘Even if the blast was within the legal limits we obviously need to look at our blasting data to better understand how this happened,’’ he said.

Ms Olofsson, who is also a member of the mine’s community consultative committee, said the latest incident proved that allowing mines to self-regulate was not working.

‘‘The regulation needs to be taken out of the hands of the mines and government’s and given to an independent authority,’’ she said.