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Living with Coal seam gas... the farmer who's making it work...

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Controversial Shenhua Watermark coal mine to pass kill date

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The mine is opposed by green groups and National Party leader Barnaby Joyce.

Three local groups fighting the mine have seized on the clause in the 2008 exploration licence and written to NSW Energy Minister Anthony Roberts asking the government to sink the controversial project once and for all.

"Shenhua's exploration licence [2008] as renewed in 2012 stipulates that if the licence holder fails to commence 'substantial development' of a mine in the area within eight years of the grant of the original exploration licence, the mining minister has the power to cancel the exploration licence in accordance with Mining Act processes. The Mining Act makes it clear that the title holder is not entitled to compensation merely because the authority is cancelled," the letter co-signed by SOS Liverpool Plains, Lock the Gate and Upper Mooki Landcare.

But Mr Roberts' office has revealed to Fairfax Media that Shenhua has applied for an exemption to the kill date and the government is considering its request.

Barnaby Joyce has been around long enough to seem merely a bumbling, amusing politician, but ...
Photo: Andrew Meares

In August, the NSW government dispensed with another controversial Liverpool Plains coal project, BHP Billiton's proposed Caroona mine, 20 kilometres from Shenhua Watermark after paying the company $220 million to buyback its $100 million exploration licence.

Premier Mike Baird said "coal mining under these highly fertile black soil plains .... poses too great a risk for the future of this food bowl".

"It's been eight years ... what gives them the right to hang around leaving everyone else in limbo?": Rosemary Nankivell.
Photo: Matt Miegel

But any prospect of Shenhua walking away from the Liverpool Plains appear remote, despite the assessment of some mining economists that the mine has become commercially-unviable due to years of depressed coal prices.

Mr Roberts' office said Shenhua had officially requested an exemption from the 2008 clause under a provision that allows the minister to extend the licence if there is a "reasonable excuse .... and intention to proceed with mine development".

"The condition only allows cancellation of the licence if there are no reasonable excuses for not substantially commencing the mine development within eight years of the grant of the original exploration licence," said a spokesman for Mr Roberts.

"The company has applied for a suspension of the condition, as the company contends it has made all reasonable efforts to comply with this provision, but has been prevented due to numerous legal and other regulatory interventions which are outside of its control.

"The Division of Resources and Energy is reviewing this application and will be providing an advice to the Minister. The Minister is yet to receive the advice; therefore no comments on the determination can be made at this stage."

Mr Roberts' office said the government remains in negotiations with Shenhua at excising parts of the mine title that encroach onto the strategic agricultural land of the Liverpool Plains.

But SOS Liverpool Plains spokeswoman Rosemary Nankivell said eight years was long enough for local farmers to live with the prospect of a mine.

"We're over it. It's been eight years, they are not doing anything and what gives them the right to hang around leaving everyone else in limbo while other major agricultural projects don't go ahead because people don't know if there's going to be a mine here?" she said.

Cotton and wheat grower John Hamparsum, whose property adjoins the Watermark site said no major development or drilling had taken place.

"It's just noxious weeds growing and some cattle on land that's been leased," he said.

Shenhua's Australian office in Gunnedah did not return calls from Fairfax Media.

Jeremy Buckingham, the NSW Greens MP who has spent years on the fight against Shenhua, said: "The Shenhua Watermark coal mine is a reckless proposition in the middle of our most fertile farm land and the entire licence should be cancelled or bought-back, not just part of the licence."

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The eight-year hitch: controversial Shenhua Watermark coal mine to pass kill date

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It has been 2916 days since controversial former state Labor minister Ian Macdonald issued China's state-owned Shenhua a licence to explore for coal in Australia's richest farming region, the Liverpool Plains, in return for a $300 million cash payment to the NSW government.

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Wheat, corn, sunflower seeds, canola, sorghum, barley, chickpeas, beef, lamb, wool and cotton are all produced on the Liverpool Plains in northern New South Wales!

The Liverpool Plains covers 1.2 million hectares and has fertile soils, combined with a favourable climate and an aquifer system that enables year in and year out production of

both summer and winter crops.

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This page introduces Food River Station, its philosophy, its where-abouts, and its programs

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Use a case study to investigate different factors concerning competing land uses & Food Production

Interpret maps and geological diagrams to research and investigate a case study

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What food is grown on the Liverpool Plains?
Why is the region so productive?
Who are the stakeholders?
How deep is the aquifer?
How deep would the open-cut coal mine be?

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Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

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Move your cursor over any area of the map to reveal the 'magnifying glass' circle. Scroll your mouse wheel to zoom in or out within the magnifying circle. On touch screens, tap once on the screen to show the magnifying circle. Then, keep your finger on the screen and move the circle around to show the zoomed in map.

David R Horton (creator), © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, and Auslig/Sinclair, Knight, Merz, 1996.
No reproduction without permission.

For thousands of years, the original inhabitants of Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples occupied the lands with very different boundaries than today, centred on intimate cultural relationships with the land and sea.

"It's my fathers land, my grandfather's land, my grandmothers land. And I'm related to it, which also give me my identity."
Father Dave Passi, Plaintiff in Mabo Ca​se

The map is an attempt to represent all the language, tribal or nation groups of the Indigenous peoples of Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups were included on the map based on the published resources available between 1988 and 1994 which determine the cultural, language and trade boundaries and relationships between groups. Regions were determined using the watershed basis as a template.

The map was developed along with the Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia as part of a research project. The Encyclopedia is available in libraries and contains more detailed information about the groups represented on the map.

"What was before Lord Vestey born and I born? It was blackfella country."
Vincent Lingiari (Wattie Creek 1966)

Limitations of the map

The AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia was produced for a general reading audience. The map is not definitive and is not the only information available which maps language and social groups. See also AUSTLANG.

The information on which the map is based is contested and may not be agreed to by some landowners.The borders between groups are purposefully represented as slightly blurred. They do not claim to be exact.

The map was produced before native title legislation and is not suitable for use in native title or other land claims.

Further information

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Move your cursor over any area of the map to reveal the 'magnifying glass' circle. Scroll your mouse wheel to zoom in or out within the magnifying circle. On touch screens, tap once on the screen to show the magnifying circle. Then, keep your finger on the screen and move the circle around to show the zoomed in map.

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Liverpool Plains is under attack by coal mining - our national food bowl.

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http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/04/04/3470245.htm