An Australian court on Wednesday struck down a heritage order that had blocked part of a planned goldmine in New South Wales.

Federal Court Justice James Stellios found that the order was "invalid," ABC News reported. Former environment minister Tanya Plibersek made the order in 2024 to protect part of the McPhillamys Gold Project near the town of Blayney. The judge sent the matter back to the current minister, Murray Watt, to decide again.

The order covered about 400 hectares of the site, ABC News said. It stopped Regis Resources from building a dam to hold mining waste at the headwaters of the Belubula River. A local Aboriginal group had asked for the area to be protected because of its place in creation stories, the Guardian reported. Regis said the order made the project "no longer financially feasible," ABC News reported.

The judge said the process behind the order was flawed. A Dreaming story about the blue-banded bee was raised late. He said it "constituted a new application," ABC News reported. He stressed that his ruling said "nothing about the merits of the claim," ABC News reported.

Regis Resources called the ruling "a significant and welcome step forward," the Guardian reported. The Wiradyuri group said it was disappointed. "The court's decision does not diminish the cultural significance of these places," the group said, ABC News reported.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said before the ruling that he wanted the mine to go ahead. "We need the investment," he said, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Watt said the case showed "how complex the current cultural heritage processes are," the Guardian reported.

Regis said it is still working on another waste plan that would avoid the protected area, the Guardian reported.

What we know: The court found the heritage order invalid and sent it back to the environment minister.
What we don't: Whether Watt will make a new order, and when the mine could be built.