A NSW environmentalist charged with issuing a hoax press release about mining giant Whitehaven Coal will face the Supreme Court in November.
Jonathan Moylan is accused of temporarily causing hundreds of millions of dollars to be wiped off the value of Whitehaven earlier this year.
Prosecutors sought consent in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday to have the case heard in the Supreme Court and the application was accepted.
Moylan waived his right to a committal hearing.
"The state with a capital `S' thinks this is a complicated matter and they want to have the best brains in the Supreme Court to examine the matters," his lawyer John Sutton told reporters outside the court.
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"It does frustrate me to be perfectly honest. The cost involved in running it in the Supreme Court means that this is a matter that will cost the taxpayer more money."
In January Moylan allegedly sent a press release to media outlets claiming the ANZ Bank had withdrawn a $1.2 billion loan from Whitehaven's Maules Creek open cut coal mine on ethical grounds.
The media release bore the ANZ Bank logo, and the hoax allegedly temporarily wiped $314 million from the miner's share price.
Moylan, from the anti-coal mining group Frontline Action on Coal, has been charged with making a false or misleading statement.
He faces a maximum fine of almost $500,000 or a potential 10-year jail term.
About 15 supporters held placards outside the court saying "I stand with Jonathon Moylan" as the 25-year-old stood quietly beside his lawyer.
Moylan's spokeswoman Nicola Paris told reporters he had support from around the country.
