Mining future hinges on Adani nod
INVESTMENT opportunities for other jobcreating coal mines in the Galilee Basin are “dead” if the State Government does not green light the Adani project.
Resolve Coal’s Bully Creek coal project would create about 140 jobs for locals but managing director Gordon Saul says investors are “incredibly on the fence” and view funding as “high risk” because of the roadblocks facing Adani at a State Government level.
“I’ve just come back from talking to a number of private equity companies in the US and they see the Adani approval as the green light for them to be involved in investment,” he said.
“They just see the statutory and sovereign risk as being too high until that approval comes through. It’s certainly slowing potential capital investment currently.
“I can say pretty unequivocally that unless that green light is given the opportunities for external investment is gone, dead.”
The Bully Creek coal project, part of the larger proposed Hyde Park mine by Australia-owned, Brisbanebased Resolve Coal, would produce two million tonnes of thermal coal a year.
Mr Saul estimates, on current coal prices, the mine would inject between $10 million and $12 million in royalties into State Government coffers.
He said the company would base itself out of Charters Towers and hire local residents. The coal would potentially be transported to the Port of Townsville via the Mount Isa to Townsville rail line.
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said Canadianbased Fraser Institute’s global survey of mining companies has already found Queensland’s investment attractiveness is declining, from 12th to 13th out of 83 jurisdictions globally.
“For Queenslanders, the less attractive we are for new investment is the less potential to create jobs, to grow exports and to earn royalties to pay for services and infrastructure for all Queenslanders,” he said.
“Now is not the time for mixed messages on resources. We … want the investment to deliver the energy mix, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and expansion of renewable energy, electric vehicles and batteries around the globe.”
It comes as business leaders in Townsville, Mackay, and Rockhampton call on all elected representatives and political candidates to make their position on mining in the untapped basin clear by signing a pledge.
Herbert MP Cathy O’toole, who this week launched an attack on her state Labor colleagues for not signing the pledge, has previously stated the “big picture” fears around shifting mine approval goalposts.
“What is the big picture here? What is this indecision, changing the goalposts, what is that saying to business people who may want to invest in this state?” she said. “To me, if I was one of them, it says it is all too hard.”
Townsville Enterprise chairman Kevin Gill said government transparency on approval processes for any industry was critical for investment certainty.
“Changing the goalposts on the Carmichael mine project sends a concerning signal to any sector and any investor that even if you meet your obligations, the legislature might retrospectively change,” he said.
“This could set a precedence for the multibilliondollar pipeline of projects across regional Queensland.”