MINES have devoured once numerous farming villages in the NSW Upper Hunter and now two more towns appear to be on the menu.

Coal harvesting injects hundreds of millions of dollars into the valley every year, although it could come at the cost of historic communities and the relocation of a global horse stud’s Australian operation.

But a director of one of the major mine companies promised: “We are not about swallowing villages.”

The small settlements of Camberwell and Jerrys Plains are being surrounded by mines and locals fear mines will consume these agricultural communities like nearby Ravensworth and Warkworth.

High-profile Thoroughbred stud, Coolmore, could be forced out of the region by the latest move to expand digging in the area.

The coal industry is about to literally walk onto the 1000-horse property.

An area of 400 hectares of the 3520ha Coolmore stud has been approved for mining exploration.

Source FarmOnline Daily