The state government is negotiating with the mining giant to buy back part of its licence, which it says would restrict the mine to the plain’s ridges and protect the fertile black soil.

However, opponents of the mine have lined up to say protecting the soil isn’t the priority – protecting the water table is.

The Leader has obtained a map which shows the areas the government is trying to buy back from Shenhua.

Ideally, the government would like the Exploration Licence (black dotted line) to hug the project boundary (red line), making it difficult for the mine to expand its operations without first applying for another Exploration Licence.

Liverpool Plains farmer John Hamparsum said the government was making it appear as though it was tackling the problem, when in reality it was doing nothing.

“Nero fiddles, while Rome burns,” Mr Hamparsum said.

“At the end of the day, the core problem is still there.”

Resource Minister Anthony Roberts told The Leader the government negotiations aimed to secure “the excise of the parts of Shenhua's mining title that encroach onto the strategic agricultural land of the Liverpool Plains”.

Mr Hamparsum said farmers were frustrated by the government’s “political line about protecting black soil”.

“The whole issue is about the water,” he said.

“The black soil is one part of it yes, but this mine will impact the whole Liverpool Plains.”

Restricting the mine to the ridges would destroy a vital part of the flood plains, which make the region so fertile. 

“The government thinks pushing the mine into the ridges will make the problem go away,” Mr Hamparsum said.

“We keep trying to tell them the ridges are part of the flood plains.”

“The ridges feed the flood plains, they recharge our aquifers. Removing them will upset the salt balance coming down onto our plains.

“When you talk about total catchment management, which the government has been preaching for years, the ridges are crucial. It is ludicrous to put a coal mine right in the food bowl of the Liverpool Plains.

Former New England MP Tony Windsor has been a long time critic of the mine and said the government's line of protecting black soil was a “red herring”.

“The problem isn't about the colour of the soil, in my view it's always been about the water,” Mr Windsor said.

“Just because the mine starts above the flood plain doesn't negate its possible impact.

“The pit actually goes hundreds of metres below the flood plain.”

Breeza farmer Andrew Pursehouse says reducing the size of the Exploration Licence changed nothing and compared the mine to playing Russian roulette with the region’s water supply.

“The government does not listen and the issues remain the same,” Mr Pursehouse said.

“The expert scientific panel told the government it is ‘unlikely’ to affect the aquifers. Numerically, the CSIRO says this means a zero to 30 per cent chance of affecting the aquifer.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has publicly voiced his opposition to mining on black soil plains since 2009.

The Leader asked him if reducing the size of the Exploration Licence would easy his concerns about the mine, but a spokesperson for the Deputy Prime Minister said he had not been briefed on the NSW government’s negotiations with Shenhua, which have been ongoing since early August.

Caroona Coal Action Group chair Susan Lyle said the government “should be ashamed of itself”.

“They are absolutely lunatics, it is not acceptable to have any type of mine, whether it is reduced or not,” Ms Lyle said.

“Quite clearly the government does not understand the inter-connectivity of the ridges and the plains as far as water resources are concerned.”

Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson while he was aware of the negotiations, he was not a part of them.

“My understanding is, as reported, the government is looking to move the exploration back off the sensitive areas,” Mr Anderson said.

“The mine plan itself is not on black soil.”

The Leader contacted Shenhua Watermark for a comment regarding the negotiations, but the company declined to provide one.