The decision handed down in the State’s highest court could threaten a large number of coal exploration access agreements in NSW.

Two Caroona farming families – Sharon and Geoffrey Brown along with Les and Margaret Alcorn – went through an unsuccessful arbitration process last year and lost a case in the Mining Wardens court but today had those decisions overturned.

The Supreme Court’s decision is expected to give farmers greater power to refuse miners access to their land if miners breach access agreements.

Legislation states banks must be told by mining companies about exploration work on land where the banks have an interest.

This is because mining may change the value of the land.

Last year the Mining Warden said it was not vital for mining company to notify a bank of its activities but that decision was quashed today.

In an all-encompassing statement this morning the Supreme Court’s Justice Schmidt said: “I order that the decision of the Warden’s Court as well as the determination which accompanied it and the interim and the final determinations of the arbitrator be quashed.”

A short statement released this afternoon by mining giant BHP, which has exploration licenses on the Liverpool Plains, said: “BHP notes the Supreme Court’s decision and is now considering the options available to it.”

Chair of the NSW Farmers Association’s mining taskforce, Fiona Simson, said it was “fantastic news” for farmers.

Her taskforce was seeking legal advice about whether numerous exploration access agreements in NSW were now void.

It is expected to only protect farmers on parcels of land in which banks have a financial interest and where mines have not notified the banks about their exploration.

* More details in next week's The Land.