An audit assessing the capabilities of all KEPCO owned properties in the Bylong Valley is helping to develop a land management strategy ahead of any mining venture.
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Leading the audit of about 70 square kilometres is recently appointed agricultural land manager, Henry Bosman.
Mr Bosman has been in the role for a few months and is currently living at Bylong Station where he and his family have relocated.
On Wednesday KEPCO Australia chief operating officer, Bill Vatovec, said the appointment was part of a larger commitment “to being a long term part of the Bylong Valley.”
“As one of the area’s landholders we understand this will involve much more than simply developing a coal mine,” Mr Vatovec said.
“As the owner of several landholdings which are subject to farming activities we recognise the need to manage these properties in a sustainable manner and maintain them as commercial agricultural enterprises.”
Mr Bosman has 30 years of agricultural land management experience including orcharding, cropping, livestock grazing and row crop farming.
The newly appointed manager said on Wednesday he wanted the Bylong Coal Project to be one that was a “pioneer” in seeing that mining and agriculture can co-exist.
“Given the project has stepped away from much of the higher-value agricultural land we are in a unique position to both farm that land while also developing strategies to generate returns from other areas,” Mr Bosman said.
Part of the mine plan includes keeping the Tarwyn Park National Sequence Farming School even though the property was sold to KEPCO earlier this year. If the mine is approved, Tarwyn Park will neighbour an open-cut pit and it already runs alongside the Ulan-Sandy Hollow railway.
Property management fears were raised by members of the Bylong community earlier this year, especially about the future of a crumbling Lee Home Station homestead on the property of Bylong Park. At the time Mr Vatovec said KEPCO recognised the need to document, preserve and maintain the area’s history.
“My priority in the coming months will be undertaking a full audit of the current capabilities of all KEPCO owned properties and then developing a comprehensive Land Management Strategy to determine how best to manage these assets into the future,” Mr Bosman said.
“This strategy will then provide the pathway to achieving an optimal and sustainable management model for agriculture performance across KEPCO owned properties.”
The appointment of an agricultural land manager also coincided with WorleyParsons being appointed to manage the next phase of the project.
It is expected WorleyParsons will begin the project’s new drilling program from about March next year. WorleyParsons will also assist the project as it moves through the approval process and toward the development stage.