Mine vows to make good on promise to surrender lease

Yancoal says it remains committed to handing back an infrastructure mining lease for the South East Open Cut project at Camberwell.

The company announced in April last year that it was not proceeding with the contentious project and would instead direct its efforts towards a nearby underground mining project.

It said at the time that it would surrender licences associated with the to the government in the near future.

However, locals who fought against the project said they remained concerned that it had not done so 10 months on.

A Yancoal spokesman said it remained committed to surrendering the licence.

"Leases for mining purposes have never been granted for this project. Yancoal is currently engaging with the Department of Mining, Exploration & Geoscience to surrender the associated infrastructure mining lease (ML 1696) and to withdraw the SEOC Mining Lease Applications," he said.

Local farmer and land holder Wendy Bowman fought a pitched battle against the open cut project over many years.

The NSW Court of Appeal ruled in 2015 that the mine could only proceed on condition that Ms Bowman agreed to sell her land to Yancoal. She updated her will in 2018 to ensure her home could not be sold to the miner in the event of her death.

She said she the project was still playing on her mind.

"I'm sick to death of it," she said.

"About twice a week I see a white ute in the paddock where they are testing the water. You have to ask why are they doing that if they are not mining?"