Historic Bylong Park sold to mining interestsBRONWYN FARR06 Sep,...

Historic Bylong Park sold to mining interests
BRONWYN FARR
06 Sep, 2012 02:59 PM
HISTORIC Thoroughbred property Bylong Park in the Upper Hunter has been sold to Cockatoo Coal, a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

The publicly-listed company has exploration licences in the Bylong Valley as well as at Sutton Forest south of Sydney.

NSW project development general manager Stuart Hides said in a letter to residents on August 31 the owners of the 687 hectare farm, Richard and Christine Johnston, would lease it back in the short term while they sought another property, and in the longer term Bylong Park would be "actively managed for cattle grazing and producing feed stock".

"The project remains committed to no net loss of agricultural productivity during exploration and through to future development if the project progresses," Mr Hides said in the letter.

He said the Johnsons approached the mining company seeking to sell, because they recognised a coal mine was likely in their region.

"The acquisition of the property will allow the project to further develop its agricultural business which goes hand in hand with the proposed mining project," Mr Hides said.

"Exploration drilling will also occur on the property."

The Bylong project has an estimated 423 megatonnes of export grade thermal and metallurgical coal resource.

The property, formerly known as Clearvale Stud, was purchased by the Johnstons in 2004, along with two adjacent properties.

The Bylong Valley has been the birthplace of notable horses including Golden Slipper winners Birthday Card and Sir Dapper while seven time champion sire Heroic was based at nearby Tarwyn Park.

The latter property is owned by natural sequence proponent Peter Andrews, who has been a vocal campaigner against coal mining in the region.