Coal news and updates

Queensland committed to coal: Newman

QUEENSLAND remains unapologetically committed to coal, Premier Campbell Newman said, despite growing uncertainty in the market.

A high Australian dollar, lower coal prices, and a heightened attention to carbon emissions has hit the Australian coal industry hard.

BHP Billiton, central Queensland's largest employer, announced it would be cutting 700 workers across its metallurgical coal business on Tuesday as part of an ongoing review.

The job cuts represent about 8 per cent of the 6000 full-time staff at its Queensland coal business, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA).

A report handed to the United Nations, led by globally renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, found that Australia could end its reliance on coal while still maintaining its economic growth by moving to renewable energies, but Mr Newman said Queensland coal remained a "source of competitive advantage" for the state as well as providing jobs for "thousands and thousands" of Queenslanders.

"We have a competitive advantage, we have one of the cleanest coals around, whether it be coking coal or thermal coal," he said.

"And coal is going to be needed for many, many decades to come."

Environmentalists have long pushed for Queensland to move away from its reliance on coal, but Mr Newman hit back.

"I will make one point that the environmentalists never talk about. We're looking at construction here," he said, pointing to the next stage of the RNA development.

"Construction requires steel – steel for reinforcing bars in concrete, steels in structural members of buildings.

"There is steel required in motorcars and all aspects of our daily lives. Steel needs coking coal, OK? The environmentalists always want to forget this.

"You need coking coal to make steel and Queensland has the best coking coal in the world.

"So yes, we are in the coal business and I am proud to support the coal industry in this state."

Source: Queensland Country Life