A Hunter Valley mine planned to be built near the Bylong Valley has been granted approval despite advice to the contrary.
Georgina Woods from Lock the Gate Alliance says the proposal will threaten prime agricultural land.
"It will directly open-cut land that has been mapped to being strategic agricultural land, its going to cause a 10 metre draw-down in a productive aqua-flow currently being used for irrigated agriculture.
With thousands of hectares of land already purchased by Kepco the South Korean Mine Owners pressure is on to prevent it from going ahead.
Documents released under freedom of information laws, reveal the Department of Planning has ignored Government advice, warning against a planned mine for the Hunter Valley.
Ms Woods says it's hard to believe the Department of Planning has went ahead regardless of the advice.
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| Bylong River. Image:RealEstate |
"The Bylong Valley is a productive agricultural district, it produces food, it has a long a rich history of agricultural production. The Bylong River is a tributary of the Goulbourn River it is such an important area and its simply unacceptable that the NSW Government would recommend approval of a coal mine that would cause the entire river to dry up," Ms Wood said.
"It is an utterly unacceptable mining proposal, we hope that the revelation of these documents will cause the NSW Department of Planning to reverse its decision to allow this mine to proceed," said Ms Wood.
