IN yet another twist in the approval process for Ashton South East open cut coal mine, there was an unexpected revelation in court this week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The parties involved in the unsuccessful appeal against the mine attended the NSW Land and Environment Court to hear Justice Nicola Pain deliver, what they thought, would be the final conditions for its approval.
However, according to Bev Smiles who was in court representing the Hunter Environment Lobby (HEL) – the group that initiated the court appeal, a legal representative of the proponent Yancoal (owners of Ashton Coal) told the court the mine had gained a partial mining lease for the project in May 2014.
This lease was granted while the appeal process was still underway as the court proceedings began in 2013 and Justice Pain only handed down her findings in late August.
“No one in the court, including the judge, knew the partial lease had been granted so it took everyone by surprise,” Ms Smiles said.
“Now this has thrown the process awry to a degree and will delay the settings of the final conditions.”
Ms Smiles said it shows the weird anomalies in the state’s planning system.
“Not even the Department of Planning knew about the lease but apparently this can happen under the old Part 3A development application system,” she told The Argus.
Commenting on the granting of the lease, a spokesman for the Minister for Resources and Energy Antony Roberts said: “No leases to mine for coal have been granted in association with the Ashton South East Coal Project.
“A current Mining Lease Application (MLA 351) has been lodged to cover the Ashton South East Open Cut.
“This is an application to mine for coal by open cut methods, which covers the old Camberwell Common.
“Approval for this application has not been granted.
“The lease in question is Mining Lease (ML) 1696, granted by the Minister on May 16, 2014.
“This is only for purposes such as related infrastructure works, and applies from the surface to a depth of only 20 metres.”
Ms Smiles said given the fact 60 per cent of the coal resource in the project was under land owned by Wendy Bowman, who was refusing to sell, and that another part of the resource was under the common, which was subject to a land claim, it raised serious issues about the mine’s viability.
“They want to extract 12 million tonnes of coal over 12 years – this is a very small mine but it will have a very large impact due to its location adjacent to Glennies Creek,” she said.
Camberwell Common
ONE of the issues to be resovled in respect to Ashton South East Coal Project is the land claim that covers part of the old Camberwell Common.
The NSW Minister for Lands Kevin Humphries said “the advice we have received is that the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council lodged a land claim on behalf of the Wanaruah LALC on April 16, 2010”.
The claim includes land that was part of the Camberwell Common.
The claim will need to be determined before future management options for the land can be confirmed.
Former disgraced Labor Minister for Lands Tony Kelly revoked the common in 2010 and this allowed a land claim to be submitted, which covers the three parcles of land of the former common.
It is some of that land that forms part of the Ashton South East Coal Project.