tony windsor buys up nsw farms with prospects

Tony Windsor has spent almost $5.9 million in recent months buying three northern NSW farms in a region targeted for coal-seam gas exploration.

The independent MP's family company, Cintra Investments, bought the properties in Coonamble, about 100km west of Gunnedah, between January and March.

Mr Windsor, who sold his main property to a coalmining group in February last year, said he had bought the Coonamble properties for his family to farm.

"I've got a son out there; he's mad to go farming," he said. "I wouldn't say we're buying up big out there . . . I like farming and he seems to as well."

Petroleum giant Santos and natural and coal-seam gas group Eastern Star Gas hold an exploration licence covering thousands of hectares around Coonamble.

Mr Windsor said he "wouldn't have a clue" whether the Eastern Star Gas and Santos licence -- petroleum exploration licence 434 -- covered his properties.

"There may be a licence over them -- I don't know," he said. "They (Santos) have licences over a vast slice of country, and it doesn't doesn't mean there wouldn't be or couldn't be licences in the future, but that's not what's driving me."

It was unclear whether any of the Coonamble properties were subject to exploration licences.

According to property searches, Cintra Investments bought one of the properties, a 459ha farm, for $964,000 in January. A year earlier, the same property had changed hands for $544,400. Mr Windsor said he had no idea what the previous owners had paid for the property, but strength in the price of grain had boosted property values recently.

"It's beautiful soil and any good soil on significant-sized blocks is improving in value," he said.

Cintra Investments paid $785,100 for a second parcel of land, covering 373ha, also in January. That parcel had last changed hands for $461,000 in late 2007. Cintra paid $4.14m for a third Coonamble property in March.

A spokesman for Eastern Star Gas -- which controls a 65 per cent stake in PEL 434, with Santos controlling the remainder -- said any exploration in that region was in the preliminary stages.

"Before you can work out if there is a commercial resource or a project you can develop, there are a number of steps you can take," the spokesman said.

"The only steps we would be taking would be very early reconnaissance-type exploration."

According to Eastern Star Gas's website, PEL 434 is significantly under-explored. "The aerial extent and thickness of coals within the licence area are unknown."

In February last year, Mr Windsor sold his main farm, the 376ha Cintra, south of Tamworth, to Werris Creek Coal for $4.625m. The coalmine had been operating near Mr Windsor's homestead, which had been a factor in the sale.

The sale of the property delivered Mr Windsor about $12,300 a hectare, which was about three times more than nearby farmers who sold to the miner. According to land titles searches, the other three farms of substantial sizes to have sold within 18 months of the sale had changed hands for between $2767ha and $5128ha.

In establishing prices for such properties, several factors came into play, such as the volume and quality of underground deposits and the proximity to the mine.

Mr Windsor said his new properties were on a "beautiful bit of country" but "I don't think there is any coal under it".

"There's a large deposit of gold under all of them, of course, and then there's not much on top of that but the diamonds."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/independent-mp-tony-windsor-buys-up-nsw-farms-with-prospects/story-fn59niix-1226083773219