Bligh pressured to ban mine on farm land

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh must ban a mine proposed for prime cropping land in central Queensland and stick by her new policy, the opposition says.

The Bligh government announced in May it would protect the state's best farmlands from new mining ventures under its strategic cropping land policy.

But some miners who've already invested heavily in planned projects have been allowed to press ahead under transitional arrangements.

One such case involves a planned underground coal mine around Springsure, a farming area also known as the `golden triangle'.

Bandanna, the company pursuing the mine, has been granted permission to continue with its environmental impact process, despite missing a government deadline by three days.

The mine is yet to be approved by the state and federal government.

Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman visited the Springsure community this week and said local farmers felt betrayed.

"They were told this very special cropping land would be protected," he told AAP.

"They see that that's all been a sham.

"Let's see the premier make a commitment to stop this project."

Natural Resources Minister Rachel Nolan said that when the policy was introduced, it had to include transitional arrangements.

She said that because Bandanna had already made a significant investment in the project, it was allowed to proceed with the environmental impact statement stage.

"The spirit of the transitional arrangements should apply to them," she told AAP.

"If government had not done that there would have been an issue around sovereign risk."

Under the transitional arrangements Bandanna would still be forced to mitigate any impact on strategic cropping land and would be forced to rehabilitate it, the minister said.

But a spokesman for farmers in the area, Andrew Bate, said they were promised their land was strategic cropping land and believed it would be protected.

"If you set a cut offdate, that's what it is," he told AAP.

"Are they going to let the next mine and the next mine and the next mine through on that reason."