The New South Wales Resources Department has extended two coal exploration licences in the Bylong Valley, held by South Korean energy giant KEPCO — despite the project’s prior rejection and ongoing community concerns.
KEPCO, whose majority stakeholder is the South Korean government, applied to renew the licences in December 2024. According to updates on the NSW Resources Mining Titles Register, the licences have now been extended until early 2027. However, the extensions permit exploration only and do not authorise any mining activity.
KEPCO acquired the Bylong coal deposit in 2010, investing $700 million to purchase 13,000 hectares in the valley for a proposed open-cut and underground coal mine. The proposal led many local landholders to sell and triggered the closure of local businesses and services, including the general store, as the community shrank.
In 2019, the NSW Independent Planning Commission rejected KEPCO’s mining application, citing environmental and social concerns. Legal appeals that followed were also dismissed, with the High Court of Australia rejecting the company’s final appeal in February 2022, ending its legal bid to proceed with the mine.
Despite this, the company’s exploration licences remain active, raising questions in the local community.
Bylong farmer and President of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, Phil Kennedy, said the licence extensions were puzzling but not unexpected.
“The Resources Department isn’t granting the right to mine, but they’re still issuing exploration licences. It’s ambiguous,” he said. “KEPCO has invested heavily, so maybe the government didn’t want to stir controversy and just approved the extensions quietly.”
Kennedy added that the ongoing existence of the licences continues to pose a threat to the valley’s future.
Silence from KEPCO Raises Concerns
Earlier this year, the ABC’s Stateline program visited Bylong and heard from numerous residents frustrated by KEPCO’s silence regarding its plans for the land.
Locals have also urged the NSW government to be transparent about what it knows regarding the company’s intentions.
“There were rumours last year about KEPCO exploring a solar farm project, but that seems to have disappeared,” Kennedy said. “We’ve seen a few Korean dignitaries in the area recently, but it’s unclear what their purpose was. Maybe solar was just a smokescreen.”
Kennedy expressed hope that discussions with the government would soon focus on permanently protecting Bylong from mining and restoring its agricultural future.
“Returning the land to Australian ownership — to farmers, families — would be ideal,” he said. “Designating the valley as permanently off-limits to mining would secure its future.”
