NSW govt to cancel mining licences

A COAL company embroiled in an ICAC inquiry has reacted angrily to plans by Premier Barry O'Farrell to introduce legislation to cancel coal mine exploration licences for Doyles Creek, Mt Penny and Glendon Brook.

Cascade Coal said in a statement on Monday night it will take "all steps available" to protect its assets and the interests of its shareholders, and said the "grossly unjust" decision will raise significant questions about sovereign risk.

"This latest announcement is a further example of the lack of procedural fairness and the denial of legal rights that has characterised the whole ICAC process," the statement said.

"This politically expedient decision further underlines the difficulties of doing business in NSW."

Mr O'Farrell made the announcement on Monday following recommendations from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

He said no compensation would be provided for the cancellation of the licences and the legislation would indemnify taxpayers from any possible claims relating to the issuing or cancellation of the licences.

Coal companies embroiled in the ICAC inquiry into the corrupt dealings around the granting of the licences had asked the state government not to strike out their mining licences.

"This draws a line under this sorry saga of Labor politics and corruption in NSW," Mr O'Farrell's office said in a statement.

"There is no intention to immediately re-release the affected areas but any future process for issuing licences will be consistent with the NSW government's implementation of the ICAC's recommendations on probity."

ICAC recommended in December that the licences be cancelled.

The recommendation came months after it handed down corruption findings against former Labor MP Eddie Obeid, former mining minister Ian Macdonald and union official John Maitland.

Following the findings, Mr O'Farrell gave current holders of the mining licences a month to convince the government not to cancel them.

Cascade Coal, which has the Mount Penny and Glendon Brook licences, has launched a Supreme Court bid to have the ICAC report annulled.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union said the "grubs" who held the licences should be prohibited from doing any further business in the NSW coal industry.

"Those individuals found by the ICAC to have acted corruptly should be sent to the sin bin," president Tony Maher said in a statement.

"The mining industry is too important to risk the taint of corruption."

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