Former New South Wales Labor ministers Ian Macdonald and Eddie Obeid, and the latter’s son Moses, will face a long trial in 2019 over the granting of a coalmining exploration licence.

The trio pleaded not guilty on Friday in the NSW supreme court to conspiring for Macdonald to grant the licence on Obeid family land at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley near Mudgee between 2007 and 2009.

The estimated 23-week trial, during which the crown is expected to call 44 witnesses, was set down for 4 March 2019 by Justice Peter Johnson.