A burgeoning koala habitat is threatening to complicate plans for a billion-dollar coal mine on the Liverpool Plains in north-west NSW. The Shenhua Watermark mine was first proposed in 2008, and the company applied to the NSW government for a mining licence last year.
A burgeoning koala habitat is threatening to complicate plans for a billion-dollar coal mine on the Liverpool Plains in north-west NSW.
But the recently released minutes of a meeting of the project's Koala Technical Working Group reveal plans for an associated rail line could put a local koala population in danger.
Dr Valentina Mella from the University of Sydney is an adviser on the committee and told a July 2020 meeting that she had mapped 25 koalas in the Court Lane corridor, including four breeding females.
"She stated that based on the data she had collected over four years, Court Lane is a core habitat as defined under SEPP 44 and should not be destroyed," the minutes read.
"Based on this data, the Court Lane habitat corridor [is] a more important corridor than other corridors noted in the Koala Plan of Management."
Key points:
- Twenty-five koalas have been mapped in an area slated for a rail line
- Koala researchers say this area is now 'core habitat' and should not be destroyed
- Shenhua says it is consulting widely as it prepares a Koala Plan of Management
ABC New England / By Patrick Bell
Posted Tue 16 Mar 2021 at 8:26am