The fears come after reports on Tuesday that Bylong Station was sold for $18 million dollars to Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) in May.

Reports said the historic Bylong property was sold for close to six times the amount paid in 2004 by former owner Greg Fuller of the award-winning Pine Creek Angus Stud.

Rylstone man Alan Wills said when he heard about the reports he was “outraged”.

“I’m now worried about Rylstone as a future target for mining companies,” he said.

“There are one or two big properties here that could be lost too.”

Mr Wills said he had seen the results of underground mining on his property.

“I had no notice either what was on my land when I bought it,” he said.

He also said when a company was prepared to pay six times the value of a property people should be worried.

The Korean company has reportedly bought 30 properties since buying the rights to the Bylong coal mine project from UK-based Anglo American for $403 million last year.

Kepco holds a 5.2 per cent stake in Australian-listed company Cockatoo Coal which manages the Bylong project.

Cockatoo Coal NSW general manager for project development Stuart Hides told a Sydney newspaper the company was three years from making a mining application in Bylong but acquiring land early was becoming the industry norm.

In June, Cockatoo Coal announced it had opened an office in Newcastle to service the community and needs of the company for its Bylong project.

The NSW Farmers’ Association has called on the Federal Government to take immediate steps to track foreign purchases of Australian farmland and water rights.

NSW Farmers’ President Charles Armstrong said farmers were anxious at reports the Chinese Government-owned Shenhua Coal was buying out farmland in the Liverpool Plains while other overseas investors were snapping up their water licences.

“Last year we heard reports that $9 billion worth of agricultural land had been acquired by foreign investors within just two years – but eight months on, nothing has been done to address the issue,” he said.

“Foreign companies are able to purchase Australian land up to the value of $230 million without being scrutinised by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

“While we don’t oppose foreign investment we are opposed to foreign ownership.”