On Monday, the Australian Financial Review reported Shenhua senior vice president Wang Jinli as saying there were plans to mine “under the river”, but the Chinese executive has since said there were translation problems in the interview.

“What I did say was that Shenhua will mine in the Ridge country so as to not impact the river,” Jinli said in a statement.

“Should Shenhua Watermark decide to undertake longwall mining in the future, this too will be done in the ridge country so as to not impact the underground aquifers or the river.

“Our current exploration program clearly shows that we have no interest in mining the black soil.”

Watermark project director Joe Clayton explained further.

“This is a clear demonstration of miscommunication and poor translation, and has unfortunately caused a lot of unnecessary concern among the community,” Clayton said.

“Shenhua has stated on public record, for more than 14 months now, that we will not mine the black soil and this has not and will not change.

“The current drilling program for the Watermark project highlights that mining will only take place in the ridge country and our mining application to the state government, when finalised, will be for an open cut mine in the ridge country only.”

Shenhua said it hoped the Watermark mine plan would be completed by the end of the year.

The major Chinese coal producer plans to investigate possible longwall mining only once the open cut is up and running.

Shenhua’s first major international project is targeting 500 million tonnes of inferred resources.

The Watermark project stretches for 195 square kilometres and is only 35km from Gunnedah.

The company paid $A299.9 million to the NSW government in 2008 for the five-year Watermark exploration licence.

An initial exploration program by the state’s Department of Primary Industries is the only previous work done in the area.