The Caroona Coal Action Group is expecting about 1000 farmers to protest against the emerging New South Wales coal mining region.

CCAG spokesman Tim Duddy told ILN the farmers wanted to tell the NSW government they were unhappy with the planning process for mines which have an impact on water reservoirs.

“Our issue with the Gunnedah Coal Basin is that they are planning huge development without the studies of the underground aquifer structure being completed as the state government are issuing more exploration licences,” Duddy said.

“We believe that the planning process in NSW grossly fails the agricultural future of NSW in areas such as the Liverpool plains, where there are huge water reserves that are going unstudied.”

Diversified miner BHP Billiton recently said it would not go ahead with a longwall mine in the Liverpool plains due to agricultural concerns.

CCAG believes mining in the region would destroy underground aquifer systems affecting local farming.

Duddy would like the state government to fund an independent catchment-wide water study, costed at $A8 million, as he said current studies were not sufficient to protect the aquifers.

“[There is] no interconnectivity study between the underground aquifers so nobody knows how far it reaches, so to consider going in there blind, which is what the state government is doing, is just outrageous,” Duddy said.

Mining in the region has been a bone of contention between miners, famers and local councils.

The second annual Gunnedah Basin Coal Conference starts tomorrow and runs for two days at the Gunnedah Civic Centre.

Speakers include NSW Minerals Council chief executive Nikki Williams, BHP Caroona Coal project general manager Stephen David and Whitehaven Coal chief executive Robert Stewart.