Abbot Point multi-cargo plan scrapped
The Queensland government on Monday confirmed it had scrapped plans for a multi-cargo facility (MCF) at the Abbot Point coal terminal, Mining Weekly reports.
Over the weekend, media outlets in Australia reported that the A$9-billion expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal had been slashed, with State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Minister Jeff Seeney blaming the project delays on the “unnecessary size and scale” of the planned project.
The A$9-billion super expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal was unveiled in December last year, under the leadership of then-Premier Anna Bligh. The expansion was aimed at increasing the export capacity at the port to almost 400-million tons a year.
However, Seeney said on Monday that it had become “abundantly apparent” that the mining industry was not supportive of the MCF plans put forward under the previous administration.
“As a government we have a responsibility to ensure that any plans for the port at Abbot Point take into consideration the short- and long-term needs of industry.”
Seeney noted that instead of the MCF, the state government would immediately focus on development of the T2 and T3 terminals, which were being developed by miners BHP Billiton and Hancock individually, and an extension of the existing T1 facility.
In the long term, the government would work with the industry to provide additional capacity at Abbot Point.
“We consider that expansion at Abbot Point should be incremental. We will proceed with T2 and T3 and will discuss with industry what additional capacity is needed as that expansion is under way,” Seeney said.
“The proposals outlined by the Bligh government were unrealistic and undeliverable. They were never going to come to reality.”
Seeney, who is also the Deputy Premier, said the recent federal government decision to push the approval process for Abbot Point back to the end of 2012 indicated that the T4-T9 and MCF proposals might never pass the regulatory approval process.
“The significant scale, complexity and potential impacts of the proposed infrastructure are extensive and it would be many years before the whole of the planned additional capacity would realistically be warranted.”
“Our focus on T2 and T3 is a more practical and efficient approach to expansion of infrastructure at Abbot Point,” Seeney said.
The Australian Greens party has welcomed the state government’s decision, as the expansion recently came under the fire of environmental groups, especially Greenpeace, which announced that it would launch a A$6-million legal campaign against coal projects across Australia.
“The Abbot Point decision is a stay of execution for the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef, at a time when the mass public outcry has shown all these planned port expansions to be deeply unpopular,” Greens environment spokesperson Larissa Waters said.
“The Queensland government has now admitted that the frenzied rush to back the mining boom in Australia is ill-considered and economically foolish, which is what the Greens have been saying all along.”
Walters said that it was clear from Seeney's comments that the slow-down in the global coal market was one of the major reasons contributing to this decision, and added that Australia needed to recognise that investing in coal and coal seam gas was a dead-end when the rest of the world was trying to transition to clean energies.
“The Greens will be watching coal and gas port developments in Queensland very closely, to ensure that any smaller port developments in place of the Abbot Point expansion will be properly assessed for their cumulative impacts on the Reef and the environment.”
Meanwhile, Waratah Coal, which was developing the $8.3-billion China First coal project in the Galilee basin, said that it would seek interim capacity at the two new wharfs proposed at Abbot Point, but would continue with its plans to develop a standalone jetty and coal stockyard terminal within the Abbot Point state development area.
The proposed coal stockyard would have a 240-million-ton-a-year throughput capacity, and a standalone jetty capable of eight cape size vessels. The proposal was currently before state and federal governments.
Waratah Coal was one of the six preferred respondents awarded a position for the development of the MCF at Abbot Point.