Farmers slam NSW coalmine approval

Farmers have slammed the NSW government over the approval of a giant coalmine next to some of the state's most productive farmland.

The Watermark open-cut mine, on the Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah in northern NSW, will go ahead after the NSW Planning Assessment Commission determined that farming could proceed on the fertile blacksoil plains next to the mine site.

NSW Farmers president Fiona Simson described the approval as "a complete policy failure".

"It is the government's policy framework which has enabled the commission to approve this project," she said.

"While it will pass the buck on this decision to the commission, it is the government which has coal dust all over its hands."

Mine operator Shenhua Watermark said there had been a lengthy environmental approval process.

"The project will not harm the valuable irrigation groundwater accessed by those who farm on the plains," project manager Paul Jackson said.