Gold mining juggernaut Newcrest Mining has been served with a lawsuit challenging its licence to Australia’s biggest underground gold mine, Cadia Far East, a licence granted by NSW power broker and former politician Eddie Obeid.

The lawsuit is likely to drag Newcrest into the ICAC corruption scandal where officers from the NSW mines department are scheduled to face questions this week.

Last month the Australian Financial Review ran a story which covered claims by a small explorer Gold and Copper Resources (GCR) that Newcrest had been mining in the Cadia/Ridgeway area without a mining licence.

BusinessDay has obtained a claim served last week on Newcrest which contests the validity of the mining licence itself – and over the leases which cover the underground mine itself.

The problem for Newcrest, which at the time of publication of this story had not responded to questions, is that even if its mining rights are legally defensible, there is likely to be a review of all approvals granted by Eddie Obeid, the mines minister Ian Macdonald and development approvals by former planning minister Tony Kelly.

Such is the stench surrounding the grant of mining leases in NSW now, as a result of explosive evidence tendered at the ICAC inquiry, that the government may be forced to act.

As revealed in BusinessDay this morning, an investigation of the Mines Department by solicitors Clayton Utz had found that there had been a lack of evidence supporting controversial mining approvals as department files had gone missing.

This is believed to be the case, not only for the Doyles Creek mine, now owned by NuCoal, but also for the controversial Mount Penny mine.

In its most recent action against Newcrest, GCR has challenged the validity of the grant of ML1472, which covers a third of the giant Cadia East deposit. Behind GCR is a cabal of influential mining identities including the former Rio Tinto chief Leigh Clifford, founder of Barlow Jonker Jeremy Barlow, former Glencore and Xstrata chairman Willy Strothotte, and venture capitalist Mark Carnegie.

Newcrest has already told the Australian Stock Exchange that the GCR claims are without foundation but it has not moved to strike out any of the four proceedings. This fifth action, the most dramatic of the lot, was served last week but there has been no response.

According to the Mining Act, a licence (ML) can only be granted with an “appropriate development consent”. In 2000, the development consent for ML1472 only considered mining purposes. GCR contends that ML1472 should have only been granted for mining purposes yet it was granted for mining minerals and GCR claims this was beyond the powers of the minister at the time.

The minister who granted ML1472 on October 23, 2000, was Eddie Obeid.

The morning crush at Town Hall’s number 3 platform is one of Sydney’s worst. Tens of thousands of commuters shuffle off trains from the city’s west, colliding with thousands more boarding services for the north shore and Macquarie Park.

On Monday, the experience was even more disorientating than normal as RailCorp began trials of a new marshalling system to shepherd, cajole, and corral the crowds through a cramped platform as quickly as possible.

I just missed my train because they wouldn’t let me on – so now I’m going to have a smoke to wait 15 minutes for another one.

Getting off the train, occasionally befuddled commuters confronted at least one orange-bibbed RailCorp employee per door, herding them to the nearest exit.

Trying to reduce “dwell time” … a train marshal at Town Hall. Photo: Nick Moir

With arms outstretched, those staff also held back commuters who wanted to board until the doors were clear. And as soon as the doors were open for about 40 seconds, RailCorp’s marshals then tried to prevent new passengers getting on and delaying the train.

By the look of it, it is an effective, if costly, way to reduce the time trains at Platform 3 spend at the station. For those getting off, the marshals guaranteed a pretty smooth passage to the stairs.

But not all commuters were impressed, particularly those galled at bossy and officious marshals, or blocked from getting on their morning service.

Rush hour at Town Hall … RailCorp hopes their marshals will keep the trains running on time. Photo: Nick Moir

“I think it is a bit of overkill,” said Eric, who works for a pharmaceutical company at Macquarie Park.

“I just missed my train because they wouldn’t let me on – so now I’m going to have a smoke to wait 15 minutes for another one,” he said.

The point of the marshal trial, to take place over the next month, is to try to reduce “dwell time” that trains spend at the station.

If RailCorp can reduce the dwell from between two and three minutes to closer to a minute, it may be able to run more trains on the line.

More trains, as the morning crowds demonstrate, are desperately needed.

The chief operating officer at RailCorp, Tony Eid, said preventing people from boarding trains (who risked delaying the service) was something that Sydney commuters would take time to get used to.

“For the first time we are managing this as a major event,” Mr Eid said. “We have to trial something.”

To run the trial, RailCorp hired 16 extra part-time marshals. For the next two weeks there will be at least one marshal per carriage door. For two weeks after that there will be one marshal per carriage.

Mr Eid said RailCorp would probably end up with somewhere in the middle of the two staffing levels. He would not say how much the measures cost.

Peter Lomax, who works at an IT company at North Ryde, was another commuter blocked from getting on his first train.

“This wouldn’t happen in London, that’s for sure,” Mr Lomax, recently arrived from the UK, said.

“Trains would wait for people to get on.”

But Vincent Laudat, a student on his way to Beecroft, did not seem to mind. “It could be a good idea,” Mr Laudat said.

Natalie Forsdike, travelling to North Sydney, resented being herded into the allotted area for waiting passengers.

“I think it is ridiculous,” Ms Forsdike said.

“She’s just told me to move half a metre either way,” an exasperated Ms Forsdike said, gesturing to one of the new marshals.

If the trial works, it will help RailCorp run at least 20 trains an hour on the Western line and on the North Shore line. It currently struggles to run 17 trains an hour through the line.

For most commuters boarding trains at Town Hall’s platform three, missing the first service is not a big problem.

But if someone wants to go to any station on the Epping to Chatswood line, which is served by only one in four trains at the platform, missing a train is more of an issue.

Mr Eid said RailCorp was considering running more trains on the Epping to Chatswood line to alleviate this concern.