While welcomed, it hasn't stopped the Gomeroi people stepping up the fight to protect their heritage.

Shenhua Energy plans to extract about 10 million tonnes of coal from an open-cut mine near Gunnedah.

The Gomeroi people have been fighting for years to protect eight specific sites including two rare grinding grooves, three culturally modified trees, a culturally significant gully, river and swamp, along with the entire Watermark Mountain.

Elder Steven Talbott has called on the community and the rest of Australia to take up the mantle of the fight with them, by boycotting superannuation companies with vested interests in the mine.

He says people should think about withdrawing their funds as a sign of protest.

"While it's good the motion has passed, we still feel left in the dark about what is actually going to happen," he told the Leader.

"People should be entitled to know where their super is going. If they knew the money was in mining companies destroying our heritage, I think they would pull out.

"It would send a clear message. Once it's gone, it's gone."

This message is one that Australian superannuation company Cbus says they've taken to heart.

While they only have less than one per cent investment in Shenhua, they are considering withdrawing that stake.

They told the Leader that "sacred sites of First Nations Peoples should be protected".

"Cbus is reducing our very small holding in Shenhua, most likely to a nil holding, as part of our climate risk management in global and emerging markets," a spokesman said.

"We are also asking all our global and domestic advisors to include the important issue of First Nations sacred sites in their engagement with mining companies."

Fund manager BlackRock's stake in China's Shenhua is around 1.36 per cent of the firm's total issued shares, as reported in Shenhua's annual report.

A spokesman told the Leader the company was "deeply concerned" over the destruction of Aboriginal heritage.

"We have voiced our concerns to the company directly as part of our investment stewardship efforts," a spokesperson said.

Dr Jude Philp, senior curator of the University of Sydney's Macleay museum collections, chatted to the Leader about the urgent need to rework Australia's heritage legislation, to be led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

"If the Gomeroi people say this is important heritage, culture and history to them, then it is," Dr Philp explained.

"I would sincerely hope the government respects why that is so. There is not a way forward without listening to the Gomeroi and first custodians of this land."

Australia History university lecturer Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson said the problem wasn't China or Chinese investment in Australia, but "a failure on the part of Australian leaders to value the physical archive of Aboriginal history literally hewn into the Australian landscape."

"Imagine destroying a 50,000 year old library? For Gomeroi people, losing these sites is like setting a match to a sacred text," she explained.

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"This is what is happening around Australia at the moment, due to weak government process and legislation in the wake of mining expansion."

The federal government was taken to court last year after Environment Minister Sussan Ley declared Shenhua's economic benefit outweighed the cultural heritage.

The proceedings are still ongoing, and Ms Ley said it was inappropriate to comment at this time.

Shenhua was also contacted for comment.