A company owned by Clive Palmer has renewed plans to build a massive coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin that would dwarf Adani's Carmichael project.
Mr Palmer's Waratah Coal won federal government environmental approval for its Galilee Coal project in 2013, but has not progressed its proposal until now.
The company has applied to the Queensland Government for a mining licence and environmental authorisation to build two open-cut pits and four underground mines to produce 40 million tonnes of coal a year.
A 453-kilometre railway would also be required to transport the coal to the Abbot Point coal terminal owned by Adani.
Notification of the renewed application, which was reported by The Guardian, appeared in a weekly newspaper in the central Queensland town of Emerald.
It has alarmed environmentalists and landholders.
Activist group Lock the Gate condemned the "destructive" proposal, previously known as China First, which it said would destroy grazing land.
The Galilee basin in central Queensland. Source: Greenpeace
Nature Refuge co-owner Paola Cassoni, who lives in the area, expressed concern about the impact on groundwater.
“We have been in drought out here for more than three years. Our groundwater is all we have to depend on.
"We have no choice but to use all options open to us to protect this important pocket of country.”
Lock the Gate is considering its options ahead of the 2 December deadline to lodge an objection with Queensland's mine assessment authority.
Clive Palmer spent an estimated $60 million on advertising in the lead up to the May federal election and while he failed to win a seat, the mining magnate took credit for the shock Coalition victory.
A week before the election Waratah Coal announced plans to build a coal-fired power plant in central Queensland.
Waratah Coal has been contacted for comment.
