Whitehaven, the subject of an aborted Nathan Tinkler takeover bid earlier this year, has its major mines close to Shenhua’s assets in NSW’s Gunnedah Basin.

“Whitehaven wishes to advise that Whitehaven routinely has discussions with other coal companies about possible business development opportunities, involving both asset transactions and corporate opportunities,” it said in a statement.

“Whitehaven has had such discussions at various times with Shenhua, because of the obvious potential synergies between the assets of each company in the Gunnedah Basin.”

Whitehaven’s flagship Narrabri mine is in the Gunnedah Basin and its Maules Creek thermal coal project – which it acquired when it merged with Aston Resources – is strategically located near Shenhua’s Watermark project.

While Whitehaven has had no proposals from Shenhua to sell its assets, nor has there been any proposal from Shenhua to acquire Whitehaven, market speculation remains that the cash-strapped Tinkler may be seeking to sell his 19.4% stake in Whitehaven to Shenhua.

Shenhua has submitted the environmental impact statement for its Watermark open cut project in the agriculturally fertile Liverpool Plains to the NSW Department of Planning for adequacy review.

But Watermark project manager Paul Jackson said that while this step was significant for the company, there was still a long way to go before receiving final development approval.

“Before the EIS goes on public exhibition, the department of planning must review Shenhua’s EIS to ensure it adequately addresses all the requirements outlined in the director-general’s requirements for the project,” he said.

“If the department doesn’t believe we have adequately addressed all the issues, then we will need to revise our EIS to address the inadequacies and re-submit it to the department for consideration.”

Shenhua Watermark received the director-general’s requirements for the project on April 19, outlining the key areas that must be addressed as part of the environmental impact statement.

The DGRs were prepared in consultation with relevant government agencies, with input from the Watermark Community Consultative Committee and NSW Farmers Association.

The key issues that had to be addressed in the EIS include: agricultural and other land resources; water resources; biodiversity; heritage; air quality; greenhouse gases; noise, vibration and blasting; traffic and transport; visual; waste; hazards; social and economic; and rehabilitation.

The DGRs also refer to the NSW government’s new Strategic Regional Land Use Policy.