The list includes the Mount Arthur, Liddell and Bengalla mines in the Hunter, Stratford at Gloucester and Tasman near Newcastle.

Minister for the Environment and Maitland MP Robyn Parker told State Parliament yesterday the "dust stop" program would apply to all 68 NSW mines by April next year.

The agreements stemmed from recommendations in an independent report late last year that compared NSW mine operations to international best practices.

The report estimated that the consistent application of best-practice particulate control measures would result in a 49 per cent reduction in PM10, or fine dust, emissions.

Unsealed roads accounted for about 40 per cent of mines' dust emissions.

Ms Parker said many coalmines had already adopted many elements of best practice but "there is room for improvement".

A spokeswoman for the minister said the programs were negotiated with mines, attached to their environment protection licences, and included an agreed timetable of works and achievement deadlines.

The office would undertake compliance checks.

The nine mines were chosen for their "geographical and operational diversity".

NSW Minerals Council deputy chief executive Sue-Ern Tan said the industry acknowledged the importance of dust management, particularly in the Upper Hunter "where the scale of the industry's growth means there is a cumulative impact".

She said the industry was investing in research to test new chemical dust suppressants.

But calling the program "dust stop" set "expectations that are unachievable", she said.

Mines, as with other industries, would always generate some dust.

National Pollutant Inventory figures have previously shown almost half of the state's fine dust emissions are produced in Singleton and Muswellbrook.