Australia coal news

The troubled rail firm believes controversial changes to its maintenance regime in Queensland will reduce the state’s coal haulage capacity by 20 million tpy in 2019.

Prior to the transaction, Maylion, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble Group, held a 40.9% shareholding in EER, a coal exploration and development company.

“Aurizon must stop playing games with Queensland exports and revert back to normal rail maintenance,” says QCA.

Xcoal exported around 3.5 million tpy from Australia in 2017 and plans to increase this fivefold over the next few years through offtake agreements and investments in smaller mining projects.

In the Queensland Resources Council’s latest State of the Sector report, 52% of resources chiefs said they would increase employment over the next quarter with 13% looking to increase employment ‘substantially.’

The contribution from mining royalties to the NSW Budget “highlights the importance of mining and its vital contribution to state and national economies,” says Minister for Resources and Northern Australia.

We are now only a few days away from Aurizon announcing its decision on its rail maintenance.

Critical infrastructure, such as fire services equipment, remains in place and the site is monitored and patrolled by security services.

Exploration is an important indicator of confidence in the resources sector, and greenfield exploration demonstrates the sector’s willingness to explore for larger deposits, QRC states.

“Aurizon should co-operate with the Queensland Competition Authority, immediately resume its normal maintenance programme on the Central Queensland Coal Network and end the coal export impasse it started.”