A mining company’s $1 billion project has received the nod to start producing coal in Central Queensland’s Bowen Basin, and vows to hire from the nearby area.
Queensland Coordinator General Barry Broe recently approved Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs Coking Coal Project, 40km south east of Moranbah in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
The project is expected to begin producing coal for steel production as early as 2020 as it lies within a well-established coking coal area with existing infrastructure.
READ RELATED CONTENT
- Tender awarded for $2Billion WA metal project
- $382M Metal project recommended for environmental approval
- $10B mining project approved for central Queensland
The first stage will cost $450 million and produce 4.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) that will ramp up to 15 mtpa. The product will be exported through the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal. The project also includes a Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP), infrastructure links for rail, water and power, and site access.
The proponent revealed it has already awarded CIMIC Group companies Sedgman and CPB Contractors a $184 million head contract for designing, procuring and building a CHPP, which is scheduled to be commissioned in the Bowen Basin in 2020. Design and early procurement work for the CHPP will start immediately.
The project will create more 500 construction jobs and 1000 operational positions throughout its 79-year lifespan. The bulk of the workforce will be hired from the nearby area without fly-in fly-out workers.
“Our focus is on workers living locally, including in the local economies of Moranbah, Nebo and Dysart and hiring locally from the surrounding towns of Central Queensland. There will be no fly-in, fly-out rosters,’’ Pembroke Resources chairman and CEO Barry Tudor said in a public statement.
No jobs are advertised yet but they will appear soon on the Sedgman careers website and CBP Contractors careers page.
The Bowen Basin project is backed by major shareholder and resources private equity firm Denham Capital. A mining lease is required before construction can begin.
“We now need to receive a mining lease before we can start construction but we anticipate starting mining in 2020 and shipping first coal soon after,” Tudor said.
Add Comment