THE landmark refusal of KEPCO's Bylong coal mine has left big questions about the future of 13,000 hectares of KEPCO-owned farmland and an exploration licence the company paid $403 million for in 2010.
Korean newspapers on Thursday described the project as "disrupted" and "stranded", and said KEPCO was considering options that included an appeal, lodging a new application or selling its Australian assets.
Business Korea said KEPCO recently posted an operating loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, with Bylong land sales possible to reduce further losses. But by Thursday evening there was no official statement from KEPCO in South Korea, and its Australian company referred journalists back to a one-line statement expressing disappointment after the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) refusal.
Hankyung.com, the digital platform of the widely-read Korea Economic Daily, quoted an unnamed KEPCO source saying "although it is possible to challenge the IPC's decision, it would be very difficult to change the outcome".
KEPCO's opportunities for appeal are limited. The Newcastle Herald has confirmed KEPCO can't launch a merit-based appeal under NSW law because a public hearing was part of the assessment. But the company can launch judicial review proceedings within three months if it considers there has been a legal error in the process, although the best outcome from a judicial review is a referral back to the IPC for a redetermination.
On Wednesday Muswellbrook mayor Martin Rush called on the NSW Government to start immediate talks with KEPCO about the future of 13,000 hectares of Bylong Valley farmland bought by the company, in what Bylong resident Warwick Pearse called the "silencing of dissent" because of gag orders.
The 13,000 hectares represents about 42 per cent of the Bylong Valley between Denman and Mudgee, or roughly half the City of Newcastle stretching west to Warrabrook down to Speers Point and across to Dudley/Redhead.
The controversial buy-up included the purchase of the historic Tarwyn Park farm and homestead, where Peter Andrews developed his natural sequence farming method. His son Stuart sold the property to KEPCO after a three-year fight.
In June KEPCO alleged the NSW Government and Department of Planning "encouraged" the land buy-up to reduce dissent over the mine project, which was to have provided 120 million tonnes of coal for Korean domestic power production for the next 25 years.
It was "encouraged to acquire all of the land to be either directly or indirectly affected by the development", it said in a submission to the IPC noting the company had spent more than $750 million since buying the exploration licence from Anglo American in 2010 for $403 million.
Its Bylong purchases included a church, the Bylong general store, the local public school and significant private landholdings.
"Support and consent" from the NSW Government "encouraged KEPCO to subsequently invest $180 million in exploration and mine planning", the company said in its submission.
"At no time in the development assessment process has there been a policy shift to suggest to KEPCO that the NSW Government's coal resource in the Upper Bylong Valley should not be mined," the company said in June.
In response to questions a NSW Government spokesperson said the Bylong land was bought by KEPCO and "The NSW Government plays no role in the sale of privately owned land."
Bylong residents have questioned whether the government will buy back the exploration licence or allow it to be sold.
