THE State Government had again shown itself blinded by coalmining royalties and contemptuous of the views of regional communities, in its renewal of Gloucester Resources' mining exploration licences, residents said yesterday.
The company's three licences, which together cover about 11,000 hectares, were officially renewed in the NSW Gazette on Friday, despite Gloucester residents campaigning to prevent the renewals.
The renewals were effective as of August 11, through to 2012, the Gazette said.
Gloucester Residents In Partnership president Dianne Montague and Gloucester Mayor Julie Lyford said yesterday the official notice was unsurprising but still bitterly disappointing for residents.
In February, about 1000 residents held a public meeting to protest the renewals.
Ms Montague said a company representative had told community members in early July that the Government had said it would renew the licences.
The company was continuing to buy up properties around the town, putting pressure on residents who did not want to leave but who feared they would be left surrounded by company-owned land that would become part of a mine, she said.
Cr Lyford said the government had ignored the wishes of the council and the community, both of which were at the end of their tether.
"They are simply not listening not to us, or the communities at the Liverpool Plains, Jerrys Plains, nobody," she said.
Cr Lyford said the council had tried to have mining restricted from environmentally and agriculturally significant land as part of a review of its Local Environment Plan. But the Planning Department had knocked back the changes.
Cr Lyford said she had discussed her concerns about Gloucester Resources with NSW Premier Nathan Rees at a community meeting in Maitland last Thursday.
"He said 'I hear what you are saying and I will make inquiries'," she said. The licence renewals were formalised in the Gazette issued the next day.
A spokesman for Mineral Resources Minister Ian Macdonald emphasised that an exploration licence was not an approval to mine, but merely for exploration activity.
He said Mr Macdonald had met with Gloucester Resources and discussed the community's concerns. He had also met with Gloucester Residents in Partnership and the chair of the Community Consultative Committee, Terry Healey.
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