Whitehaven Coal has been granted a licence by the Perrottet government to explore a new site which could lead to the expansion of its Narrabri underground coal operations in north-west New South Wales.
The Gorman North strategic release is one of eight sites listed as “potential areas for proactive release for coal exploration under the strategic release framework” (SRF) by former deputy premier John Barilaro.
The licence, granted on Friday 9 September under the operational allocation framework (OAF) process, allows Whitehaven to seek out sites for a mine extension closer to Narrabri, under the edges of the Pilliga state conservation area.
Anti-coal action group Lock The Gate has condemned the move and released a Gorman North strategic release mapping and analysis report.
Lock The Gate in a statement said that its analysis revealed threats to groundwater, endangered species, and native forest if Whitehaven built coal mines in the area.
The licensing has caused confusion among landholders in the exploration zone, who cited a lack of community consultation, and licences being issued without a competitive tender process.
But because the approval was under the OAF, Whitehaven was not required to undertake community consultation or conduct a preliminary regional issues assessment (PRIA).
Landholders believed because Gorman North was a strategic release, any licences would be issued under the SRF, requiring public consultation.
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson questioned the use of the OAF instead of the SRF to approve the licences, labelling them “socially reckless and irresponsible”.
“If there is some sort of ambiguity about which pathway to take, then surely you would take the pathway that the spirit and intent of the system provides and what the community expects,” Higginson said. “But clearly they didn’t.”
Higginson questioned the Mining, Exploration and Geoscience (MEG) chief executive, Georgina Beattie, about this in late August.
“What I understood from the response,” Higginson said, “is because there were no other potential market operators out there, it went straight in under [the OAF]”.
“Whitehaven coal has been the one company that has not been talking about packing up, winding down, or leaving. They’ve been very aggressive in their continuation approach.
“That’s been their relationship with the NSW Coalition and the Minerals Council. So Gorman North perhaps fits into that narrative.”
Sally Hunter, whose husband Geoff Hunter, is on the Narrabri community consultative committee, said they were the ones to inform landholders directly, after spotting ads in the local paper.
“No one knew about Gorman North so we ended up telling people about it,” she told Guardian Australia.
“Unfortunately, when anyone inquired about it, Whitehaven said, ‘Oh no, you’re talking about the Narrabri underground expansion Stage 3 – here’s where all that information is, go and look at that’.
“People were confused. We know of people that rang the company after we told them, and [Whitehaven] sent them on a wild-goose chase because they’ve done nothing to inform anyone in the region.”
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Linda Croker lives on Evesham, a Poll Hereford stud in the zone, but has little idea what any expansion could mean for her farm.
“We’ve had basically nothing from Whitehaven, at all. We were unaware that it was even happening until Sally put a flyer in our mailbox telling us that it might happen,” she said.
“We’re very concerned for the future … it makes it uncertain for all the surrounding property owners. We’ve already got enough mines here.”
The OAF can be used to grant licences if the applying company has existing operations adjacent to the exploration zone. The Gorman North zone was set up abutting the north-west edges of Whitehaven’s Narrabri Coal operation.
A spokesperson for MEG said “identification as a strategic-release area does not prevent an application under the operational allocation framework”.
“The operational allocation pathway requires notification and advertisements, and a market-interest test. The department conducted a market-interest test over the entire Gorman North area. No market interest was received, so the applications were assessed in accordance with the Mining Act 1992 and the operational-allocation guidelines.
“If market interest had been received, the department would have considered the strategic release framework for the entire Gorman North area, including a preliminary regional issues assessment.”
Whitehaven Coal was approached for comment.
Tom Plevey is a freelance writer based in Tamworth