COAL has been kicked off the black soil at Caroona in the Liverpool Plains, following a landmark $220 million deal from NSW government to buy BHP Billiton’s exploration licence.
The government also announced significant news that negotiations are underway to buy back part of Shenhua’s coal tenements at Watermark, about 20 kilometres up the road from Caroona.
The black soil farmland on the Liverpool Plains is some of the most prized in the world – and unrivalled in Australia for its drought resistant groundwater supplies and ability to reliably produce high-yielding summer and winter crops.
The people of Caroona have cared enough about their community to save it
- Tim Duddy
BHP paid $100m for the licence in 2006, which was granted by the Labor government during the height of the mining boom.
But since then the project’s progress was stymied by strident opposition from farmers and a declining thermal coal export market.
BHP maintained its plans to longwall mine under the plains would have limited impact to agriculture. But Farmers argued the tunnelling would cause subsidence which would damage extensively worked cropping paddocks and threaten the region’s fertile groundwater resources.
NSW Gateway Panel, which assesses mining and gas projects on high quality agriculture land, found Caroona would cause subsidence to 8500 hectares of land, including direct subsidence impacts to more than 2000ha of some of the country’s top cropping country.
People power
Farmers and environmentalists have mounted popular campaigns targeting state government Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce on his home turf. Shenhua and Caroona fell within his New England electorate until a recent electoral boundary redistribution shifted them into Parkes.
But the resistance started at the grassroots in the small farming community of Caroona and spread up the road to Breeza when Shenhua joined BHP in the coal exploration frenzy.
Local landowner and leader of the Caroona Coal Action group Tim Duddy said the exit of BHP had been won through an “unbelievably big community effort”.
“The people of Caroona have cared enough about their community to save it,” he said.
Mr Duddy, who has campaigned against BHP and Shenhua on the Liverpool Plains for a decade, said the buyback “has been a long time coming, but it is the greatest legacy that any premier will leave to agriculture in this state.”
Government moves to back ag
NSW Nationals leader Troy Grant said the government’s deal was driven by the Nationals commitment to protect prime farmland.
“The Liverpool Plains black soil is one of our most precious resources and today we have taken this major step to secure its long-term future.
"Labor recklessly issued this licence and it has taken the hard work of the NSW Nationals and our coalition colleagues to finally clean up Labor's mess,” Mr Grant said.
Premier Mike Baird said the decision to buy back the Caroona licence followed advice to quarantine black soil country from the government’s expert planning panel, the NSW Planning Assessment Commission.
“After careful consideration, the NSW Government has determined that coal mining under these highly fertile black soil plains, as proposed by Labor, poses too great a risk for the future of this food-bowl and the underground water sources that support it,” Mr Baird said today.
Fight moves to Watermark
Mr Baird said negotiations with Shenhua had commenced to secure parts of its Watermark mining title that are close to the black soil of Liverpool Plains.
The Chinese state-owned miner paid $300m for its licence and the mooted reduction in size to its proposed mine plan now raises questions over the future economic viability of the Watermark project.
Mr Duddy said the community would continue to fight Shenhua, and questioned the miner’s ability to resist opposition following BHP’s exit.
“We won’t rest on our laurels. We’ll do whatever its takes.
“How could any Chinese government-owned company expect that they would ever get the support of the Commonwealth when the Big Australian has given up on its project.”
“We have been seeking amendments to the state planning policies to protect precious food and fibre resources, and a more strategic approach to land use planning.”
Some areas need to be off limits and the highly productive Liverpool Plains is one of those areas
- Derek Schoen
Greens mining spokesman Jeremy Buckingham said the “government has today woken up to the reaility that new coal mines are unviable.
“The next step must be the cancellation of the neighbouring Shenhua Watermark mine which continues to threaten the Liverpool Plains, as well as KEPCO’s Bylong project and Hume Coal’s Berrima proposal.”
NSW Farmers president Derek Scheon said “It’s wonderful to see government giving due consideration and priority to agricultural resources”.
“Some areas need to be off limits and the highly productive Liverpool Plains is one of those areas.
“We look forward to the same protections being extended to precious agricultural land and resources impacted by the Shenhua Watermark licence.”
BHP thanks government, community
BHP’ minerals Australia president Mike Henry welcomed the way the government handled negotiations over its ext from Caroona and thanked the community for consulting with the company as the project progressed.
“While we believe that Caroona would have been developed responsibly, we accept the government’s decision and appreciate its willingness to work with us to agree an acceptable financial outcome for the cancellation of our exploration licence,” Mr Henry said.
“The Caroona Coal Project was studied extensively and developed cautiously for almost 10 years. We carried out extensive planning to ensure there would be no mining under the black soil plains, consistent with the conditions contained in our Exploration Licence.
“We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the local community for working closely with us over the past 10 years through the project’s lengthy consultation process.”