Concerns spreading far and wide from ground zero

WHILE attention in the North is on the possibility of Clive Palmer reopening his Yabulu refinery, another of his projects is gathering momentum further south.

About 40 people attended a public meeting in Marlborough on Thursday night to hear an update on Mr Palmer’s Central Queensland Coal Project.

Among them was Livingstone Shire’s Cr Glenda Ma- ther, who said everyone was “well- behaved” and received a lot of information.

“The main concerns were depletion of underground water resources and the potential to contaminate water with coal dust ending up on roofs, in rainwater tanks and in their lungs,” Cr Mather said.

“There were also concerns about the number of trains.”

The project’s proponents are Central Queensland Coal and Fairway Coal.

Both companies are subsidiaries of Waratah Coal, a fully- owned subsidiary of Mineralogy Pty Ltd, which is owned by Clive Palmer.

The plan is for three opencut pits and a rail connection to the Queensland Rail North Coast Line.

The project is situated 25km from Marlborough in the lower catchments of Tooloombah Creek and Deep Creek, within the Styx River catchment.

It lies on cattle grazing country, 8km from the nearest boundary of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Contained within the Styx River catchment are substantial undeveloped coal resources of semisoft coking coal and high grade thermal coal.

The project is yet to be approved with an environmental- impact statement being prepared for public comment.

If the approvals to mine are granted, $ 242.68 million is estimated to flow in capital expenditure with an opera- tional expenditure of more than $ 4 billion over the life of the mine and generating $ 562 million in royalties for the Queensland Government.

About 500 mainly drivein, drive- out workers would be needed during the construction phase and 250 to 500 once it is operational with an expected life of 20 years.

Central Queensland Coal Project did not respond to requests for interview yesterday.