In an interview with The Argus after a war of words erupted over the Doyles Creek proposal NuCoal’s Glen Lewis said company officials picked the initial exploration drilling sites on the Apple Tree Flat farm of Ian and Robyn Moore, not the Moores.

Mr Lewis also said homes and dams above the proposed underground pit would be considered in the mine plan.

Mr Moore, who is legally blind, made national media headlines last month during a Land and Environment Court case aimed to stop NuCoal from drilling on his farm.

The judge granted the company an access arrangement then Resources Minister Chris Hartcher called on NuCoal officials to voluntarily suspend exploration on its 28 square kilometre licence area at Jerrys Plains until an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry was completed into the way the licence was granted.

NuCoal officials struck a compromise, saying that while there would be no coal exploration on the Moore’s 180 hectares the company would continue drilling on land the company owned or held an access agreement over.

This led to more national media coverage and letters to various newspapers plus a public letter to residents of Jerrys Plains and Apple Tree Flat from consultative committee member Steve Evans and a public letter from NuCoal officials Ken Barry and Gary Cambourn.

Mr Evans said he was concerned that Mr Lewis said in a newspaper letter that Ian Moore chose the original location for drilling in his property, that company officials told the Doyles Creek consultative committee that homes and dams would not be considered in the mine plan and that the committee’s minutes were, at times, inaccurate.

“I’m not anti-mining, I’ve worked in the industry all my life, but I became infuriated by the information that was coming out,” Mr Evans said.

“I’m concerned about the impact of mining such a rich agricultural area and what it could do to underground water and the thriving rural community and I want to ensure balanced and accurate information is made public.”