Coonabarabran-based seismologist Michael Phillips has been operating seismological equipment in Muswellbrook since November.

What began as a simple test project at the request of residents has become a 24-hour project to monitor ground movement.

"There's an increasing demand for this type of work in affected communities," Dr Phillips said.

"There's a lot of people in the Hunter really steamed up about what is happening."

The equipment, on a private property, is capable of detecting movement ranging from traffic to earth tremors.

Blasts between 1.8 and 2 on the Richter scale are usually recorded at least twice a week.

"So far I have yet to see an instance of an exceedence where a mine oversteps the legal limit for off-site ground motion," he said.

"But the blasts which I have recorded are certainly large enough to irritate many locals."

Dr Phillips said there was evidence to show mining activity was capable of triggering earthquakes.

"Mines do go through faults in the earth which releases stress," he said.

"When that happens you may get an earthquake."

Under existing open-cut mine planning approvals, individual mines are responsible for monitoring the impact of their blasting activities.

The Department of Planning investigated a blast at Xstrata's Glendell mine on December 23 after complaints that it smashed crockery and knocked a clock from a wall in Camberwell Village.

Although the blast exceeded approved limits, no action was taken because 5 per cent of the mine's blasts are allowed to exceed approved limits within a 12 month period.

Mines must also prepare blast management plans in consultation with the Department of Environment, Climate and Water.

Conditions include keeping noise and vibrations from blasting within specified limits and limiting the frequency and time of day blasting occurs.

The Department of Planning has also opened an office in Singleton dedicated solely to policing the compliance of mines with their approval conditions.

"A number of fines and other restorative actions have already resulted from this office's work," a department spokesman said.