SHENHUA Watermark Coal has hit back at claims the mining giant is buying up “the farm” across the Liverpool Plains.
Yesterday it outlined its purchases on the black soil plains, but said that was the end of it – it wasn’t planning to buy any more land for its open cut mine.
Watermark Coal project manager Joe Clayton said the purchase of 43 blocks of land in the Gunnedah Basin for a total of $213 million between 2009-2010 were the final acquisitions required for the mine’s 14,700ha foot print.
He also rejected claims the company was buying up the plains food bowl.
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“I can tell you now, of the 43 blocks of land purchased, there are three properties that encroach on the black soil,” he said. “In those cases they were properties that already encroached on the plain.
“We made a promise very early on we would not mine that plain and we have no intention to.
“The bulk of the land we bought is ridge country.”
Speculation in the media over the past couple of days has centred around the fact Shenhua paid more than 10 times estimated property values of some of the land it purchased in the basin.
“None of this is new,” Mr Clayton said.
“None of the figures for the properties we purchased have been kept confidential and we have in no way tried to hide what we have been doing.”
Mr Clayton said each of the 43 blocks had been bought with Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval.
“A lot of the prices being bandied about are based around figures that are more than a decade old,” he said.
He said an independent land valuer had been brought in prior to the properties being purchased.
“The valuer worked off the base market valuation, which had already been inflated due to the other mining in the region,” Mr Clayton said.
“When working out the prices we paid of the land we added on a premium and also took into account the disruption we were causing to the lives of the 29 individual landholders and their families, their potential future income if they stayed on the land and the infrastructure that each block of land had.”
“Under those conditions, when the land has been mined it will have to be subdivided and sold back,” he said.
Mr Clayton said a number of the 43 neighbouring blocks of land were already being leased back to the families living on them originally, for periods of anywhere between 12 months and three years.
“We tried to take an individual and tailored approach to helping those original land owners,” he said.
“And give them an opportunity that suited their needs, to transition into something else.
“All landowners were given a choice to sell or lease or stay.”
He said a number of property owners in the Basin who had been approached and decided not to sell had still been happy to sign access agreements and take a “wait and see” approach.
A Watermark Coal land manager, Gunnedah local Robert Snook, has also been engaged to manage use of the properties purchased.
As part of his plan all of the land purchased by Shenhua has been divided between six of the original landowners, who will continue to run sheep and cattle.
Mr Clayton said enough work had now been done to ensure the feasibility of an open cut mine.
“We are now keen to move forward with planned projects,” he said.
Approval to start digging is not expected until changes to the environmental assessment legislation are confirmed.
“When those changes are revealed we will assess the laws and alter our plans accordingly,” Mr Clayton said.
While a mining lease usually runs for a term of about 21 years, Shenhua confirmed they had requested a 30-year lease at the end of which they will be obligated to rehabilitate the land, subdivide and sell.
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