The NSW mining lobby has launched a TV campaign to promote the industry as it comes under attack over a controversial mine approval.
The NSW Minerals Council has unveiled a campaign highlighting the importance of mining to the state and comparing its water and land use to agriculture and housing.
"From the amount of attention sometimes given to mining you could be forgiven for thinking that mines are engulfing NSW, but the reality is mining operations account for around 0.1 per cent of the state's land," NSW Minerals Council chief executive Stephen Galilee said in a statement.
The mining group says the industry accounts for 1.2 per cent of the state's water use while households account for 6.5 per cent.
Television advertisements began airing in Sydney on Sunday night and a Minerals Council spokesman said the ads would run for at least a week and would be concentrated in metropolitan Sydney.
The Minerals Council has also created a website, landusefacts.com.au, to challenge what it calls "myths" about the impact of mining on land.
Mr Galilee said coal was NSW's most valuable export commodity and the mining industry directly employed 34,000 people around the state.
"If NSW is to thrive, it needs mining, so lets ensure mining has a long-term future here in NSW," he said.
The spokesman said the new campaign was a response in part to the backlash against the Shenhua Watermark mine, which secured approval from the federal government on July 8.
Farmers worried about water impacts have promised a campaign to stop the giant mine, slated for ridge country adjacent to the Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah, in northern NSW.
The NSW Farmers Association last week began an online campaign asking members of the public to write to the state government opposing the mine.
The farmers' campaign has attracted heavyweight support, including from federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and radio announcer Alan Jones.
Share
