The possibility the mine could require many fewer workers than originally thought was "another kick in the teeth" along with the "raft of environmental and social issues", they have said.

But Whitehaven says there is no contradiction, as the company simply had no current plan to introduce an autonomous haulage system (AHS) at Vickery.

Last week, Whitehaven chief executive Paul Flynn said the company was exploring autonomous vehicles to lower the mine's operating costs.

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"Success of an autonomous rollout at Maules Creek [mine] will be instrumental in lowering costs at Vickery given the proportion of its total costs that's going to be spent in moving dirt," Mr Flynn said.

Breeza farmer Peter Wills said: "People should not assume Vickery is going to have the number jobs that have been promised."

"At the IPC hearing, all we heard from the pro-Vickery camp was jobs, jobs, jobs. That's all they could pin their hat on against the raft of environmental and social issues," Mr Wills said.

"Now we find those jobs might not even exist."

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Mr Wills said the company had made no mention of an automated workforce in its original environmental impact statement or response to submissions.

However, Whitehaven said that did not categorically rule out its introduction.

"While there is no current plan to implement autonomous systems technology of the kind we are trialling at Maules Creek at Vickery, there is an opportunity to consider this once we have absorbed learnings from Maules Creek at a later date," a spokesperson said.

"In the meantime, the AHS rollout at Maules Creek is itself creating a new crop of highly skilled, high-tech roles in autonomous systems planning and operation which are new to the region.

"Vickery is expected to create nearly 500 jobs during construction, and 450 operational roles. This means new opportunities for people already living in the region."