Qld approves Glencore's Wandoan plans

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland government has granted a mining lease to major Glencore over its Wandoan coal project, in the Surat basin.

The mining lease was applied for in 2007, and the project’s environmental -mpact statement was approved in 2010, while commonwealth environmental approval was received in 2011.

The $7-billion project was placed on hold in 2013, as market conditions declined, with Glencore saying this week that the company would continue to assess the project’s timing against the global coal market.

“Glencore is taking a responsible approach and will only bring on new large scale production volumes if we are confident that market conditions support such a development. Adding significant new tonnes to the market at this time could adversely impact the profitability of existing thermal coal production, potentially putting jobs at risk as the market adjusts downwards as a result of oversupply,” the company said in a statement.

While Glencore was hesitant to develop the project, Indian major Adani has welcomed the award of the mining lease, with the company saying the development of Wandoan would open the Surat basin.

Adani, which is working on developing its $16.5-billion Carmichael project, said that the state government’s decision recognised the ongoing positive future of coal in the global energy mix.

“Adani has resisted the activist misinformation during the past few years. But clearly others like the International Energy Agency and Glencore, the world’s largest trader of seaborne thermal coal, see the ongoing positive future of coal in the global energy mix,” said Adani Australia CEO and country head Jeyakumar Janakaraj.

Once in production, the Wandoan project was initially expected to produce some 30-million tonnes of thermal coal a year and was expected to have a mine life of some 30 years.