The owners of the lease, Roger Turner and Antony Morgan, are reportedly finding difficulty in offloading a majority stake in the lease which they believe to be worth $100 million, despite it being in the same geological formation as Nucoal Resources' nearby Doyles Creek mine, which has a market capitialisation of $250 million.

Major concerns raised at a community meeting on Monday night were around the impact on the environment, tourism and health, with many believing the mine would take away much of the character of Denman.

John Sunderland spoke to the audience about how the project would have detrimental effects on the local thoroughbred industry while Graeme Scott gave the perspective of the local vineyards which make up much of the community’s appeal.

When addressing the crowd, mayor Martin Rush said the community could be assured that the local council would do everything possible to put a halt to the plan.

“Council opposes the Spur Hill proposal and I want to assure the community that council intends to fight the Spur Hill lease,” he said.

“Spur Hill will be within what council defines as too close to a domestic area and too close to throughbred breeding areas and the alluvial flats.”

Rush also raised concerns over the excessive use of transport in the local area with council’s road expenditure remaining static despite the amount of coal doubling as a result of rate pegging.

The rail lines would also be affected by the Spur Hill mine with the mayor pointing out that it would mean Denman’s rail line would be carrying 10 times more coal than at Scone.

Member for Upper Hunter George Souris said the relative ease in which exploration licences were granted by the NSW Department of Minerals and Resources reflected a flawed system, making it more difficult to stop such proposals moving forward.

Despite this, Souris said he did feel there were legitimate grounds to fight the Spur Hill development.

“I feel the electorate of Upper Hunter has become quite a victim here due to the sheer amount of mining development in the area. I feel we’re up to our eyeballs in mines in this immediate Hunter Valley area,” he said.

“The fundamental flaw is that the Department of Minerals and Resources are the only ones involved in the assessment for a licence and I think those days have to be numbered.

“I’ve seen just three refusals after a licence has been granted in my 20 or 30 years in government and it is a long process. Bickham took nine years between the approval of consent and the eventual rejection.

“Urban areas, water and agricultural uses are the three main issues and I think in this area they are more than worthy reasons to fight the plan."