George and Stephanie Canvin are proud owners of what they describe as some of the best soils in the world.
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"On our river flats we have 10 metres of topsoil and that is pretty unique in the world in fact the only other place in Australia to have that depth of topsoil is in Murray Bridge, South Australia. These soils are just so productive, " said Mrs Canvin
Her family is one of many in the Upper Hunter distressed by plans, currently being reviewed by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC), to re-open Dartbrook underground mine near Aberdeen.
"To think people want to re-open an underground coal mine on our doorstep is sole destroying," she said. "It will put at risk our livelihood and that of many others plus destroy a beautiful part of the valley."
The Canvin family grow lucerne and beef cattle on their 180 acre farm having left the dairy industry at the time of deregulation in 2000.
Their son Paul has returned to work on the farm, having worked previously in the mining industry, and given that experience he joins his parents in rejecting the proposal to re-open the mine. "The new owners of the mine simply want to turn their $20 million gamble into a $1 billion asset," he said."And the money they make will come at the expense of our health, property values and the environment."
Opened in the mid 1990s the mine was plagued by problems and was eventually placed in care and maintenance by its then owners mining giant Anglo American in 2006.
Not long after the mine opened the water in wells that the Canvins use to irrigate their farm dropped 5 foot and therefore their ability to maintain production also took a serious hit.
"Once the mine closed our wells came back reasonably okay," said Mr Canvin.
"But for other farmers in the district especially those in Dartbrook some never recovered or only partially returned to their pre-mine water levels. "If they open that mine again we are very fearful about our farm and irrigation water. The water that so many of us rely on could disappear again overnight."
A similar fear is held by the farm manager of the internationally acclaimed Yarraman Park thoroughbred stud located on land a mere eight kilometres upstream from the mine.
Scott Norton spoke at the recent IPC public meeting held in Muswellbrook, where the majority of speakers were against the Commission, approving the Dartbrook Modification 7 project.
He told the Commissioners the stud relied totally on water from alluvial aquifers and given the drought water was already dropping. "Dartbrook mine affects the local aquifers and should this approval go ahead our operations will be put at risk," he said.
"Mining should not be more important than agriculture and our jobs are important to us."
This opinion of the project with its risk to vital water supplies and its impacts on the environment in particular air quality were repeated by other thoroughbred breeders and livestock producers many of whom were on farming lands in the Upper for generations.
Upper Hunter Shire has long opposed the development of mining in its LGA and Dartbrook was described by many as the start of 'mine creep' into the district.
Groundswell Gloucester's success in stopping the Rocky Hill mine on the doorstep of the town was highlighted many times by speakers at the IPC.
Dartbrook mine will be located 1.3km from Aberdeen and local farmer and one of the founding members of Friends of the Upper Hunter, Katherine Brooks said the mine with its daily 192 B Double trucks moving coal to the railway would devastate the local environment.
"Those trucks will be travelling across prime agricultural land and in the process destroying that land which is a crime," she said.