$100m ‘up in smoke’
About $100m in coal sales to Japan have been lost by Queensland and NSW mines because of red tape, delays in mining approvals and issues like the Aurizon debacle.
ABOUT $100 million in coal sales to Japan have been lost by Queensland and NSW mines because of the red tape, delays in mining approvals and growing concern about issues like the Aurizon debacle.
New Hope Group chief executive Shane Stephan said Australia had missed out on about 1 million tonnes of coal sales to Japan’s power stations.
“They are expanding their diversification into the US and taking more Russian coal. It’s because of regulation delays for the development of new mines,” he told a business lunch hosted by BDO and The Courier-Mail’s Queensland Business Monthly magazine. “That should be our market. “We did meet with our coal customers (recently) and they are concerned about the signal the Aurizon issue sends.’’
Brisbane-based rail group Aurizon is at loggerheads with the mining industry over its decision to radically change the maintenance schedule on its Queensland coal network.
The mining sector’s concerns about Japan were highlighted in recent weeks when the country’s steel mills wrote to the Palaszczuk government telling it they were considering buying in other markets because of the Aurizon issue, which could cut about $4 bil- lion worth of coal exports.