The former Upper Bylong Catholic Church and cemetery is located on KEPCO Australia’s 3000 hectare Bylong Coal Project site. 

The cemetery has been identified as a known historic site, expected to be impacted by the proposed mine.

KEPCO Australia Chief Operating Officer, Bill Vatovec said the burials are likely to be required to be relocated in the future subject to government approvals. 

“We recognise this is a sensitive issue which needs to be worked through in discussion with the families,” Mr Vatovec said. 

“While construction of the project is not anticipated to commence until 2017 we have started the process early to try and identify descendants so we can make appropriate arrangements to relocate these graves in consultation with the families.”

He said the company has commissioned an expert to investigate and assess the heritage of the burials within the grounds of the former church and to gather information regarding the identity of any unmarked burials and the names of relatives and descendants of the deceased.

“At this stage, we are looking to make contact with descendants of those who are known to be buried at the site and also those who may have information about a number of unmarked grave sites which have been identified,” Mr Vatovec said. 

But the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance (BVPA) has criticised the energy giant over a lack of community consultation.

BVPA secretary Craig Shaw said the only notification of the exhumations came in a newspaper advertisement.   

“We have an ad in the [Mudgee] Guardian that doesn’t identify KEPCO as the owners or a proposed mine as the underlying reason for removal, asking people to contact someone we’ve never heard of,” Mr Shaw said. 

“The ad simply mentions the possibility of relocation to Bylong or somewhere else – no details, no proposed timeframe, no nothing. That, and no detail about what the plans are for the church itself.” 

KEPCO said identification and consultation with descendants of the deceased is the first step in a government regulated process. 

“The relocation of grave sites is not uncommon given the large number of private and unmarked burial sites occurring in rural areas,” Mr Vatovec said

“A number of graves were relocated at the Cadia Gold Mine Project near Orange using the same process which we have put in place. There are strict government guidelines in place regulating the process and the consultation we are embarking on to identify and contact descendants is the first step in the process. 

“We have already made contact with a number of relatives who have come forward and KEPCO is committed to meeting all requirements in place and working closely with identified relatives throughout this process.” 

The Bylong coal mine proposes to supply up to 6.5 million tonnes of thermal coal per annum to export for approximately 25 years, with open-cut operations commencing first and lasting approximately eight years, and underground mining commencing thereafter.

The Bylong mine is likely to employ up to 800 people during construction and an average of 275 people during operations.