As Cockatoo Coal continued exploration drilling in Belanglo State Forest, Southern Highlands Coal Action Group (SHCAG) coordinator Tim Frost said the group wanted Cockatoo's licence, which expires in November, to be discontinued.

Mr Frost said the 60-day moratorium on new exploration licences was inadequate.

"We want to protect pristine areas and key aquifers," he said.

Coals seam gas firm Planet Gas also has a licence, which expires next April, and Mr Frost said both projects should be stopped by non-renewal of their licences.

"It's my position they took the commercial risk," he said.

"Until the land use policy is issued by the government they should not issue new leases or extend existing ones."

Goulburn MP Pru Goward re-affirmed her opposition to Cockatoo Coal's project in a Letter to the Editor today (page 6). She conceded the Coalition was powerless to stop the exploration being approved for the existing licence.

"I'd like to have thought we could have stopped it," she said.

She said the Highlands' Strategic Regional Land Use Policy would be formulated after the Hunter Valley gets its plan and she was "pretty confident" there would be the "right outcome".

Ms Goward has set-up a meeting with Resources Minister Chris Hartcher and the SHCAG next week to discuss how the land use policy will be implemented.

Meanwhile, the Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services, which approved Cockatoo's three-year drilling program on May 6, said the information in the Review of Environmental Factors (REF) submitted by Cockatoo was assumed to be accurate.

"It is the responsibility of the proponent to ensure the information provided in the REF is accurate," a spokesman said.

"The REF is generally taken to be accurate unless the reviewing officer(s) has reason to believe otherwise."

Landowners in Belanglo last week raised concerns over differences between the maps of drill sites provided to them by Cockatoo and the maps in the REF. Cockatoo said the sites were changed once their crews arrived on the ground.

The government spokesman said unless the changes made a "significant impact" the approval wouldn't be affected.

Cockatoo plans to drill 120 holes across its lease throughout Sutton Forest and Exeter, including 30 in Belanglo. Mining companies have previously drilled 174 boreholes and three-quarters of the licensed area is privately owned land.