The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the announcement that local mining companies, QCoal and Mastermyne, will join forces to reopen the Cook Colliery coking coal mine near Blackwater.
QRC Chief Executive, Ian Macfarlane, said the news that Constellation Mining – a subsidiary of Queensland’s largest privately-owned coal company QCoal – has engaged Mackay-based contract miner Mastermyne to re-start production at Cook Colliery is a confidence boost for every Queenslander.
“When resources companies choose to invest millions of dollars into Queensland, this means more jobs, more royalties for the state budget and more money flowing through our economy,” Mr Macfarlane said.
“The fact that the two companies involved in bringing the Cook Colliery mine back into production are both Queensland-owned and based makes this announcement all the sweeter, and we congratulate QCoal and Mastermyne on this exciting new venture.”
He said there is no doubt that Cook Colliery has had its challenges, but the two companies have conducted an extensive review of the mine and previous mining methods.
“The combination of new mining areas and a low-risk mining method means that QCoal and Mastermyne are going into this venture eyes wide open using their respective decades of experience and are a great combination.”
Mr Macfarlane added that at a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty brought on by the global pandemic, the state’s resources sector – which contributed $82.6 billion to the Queensland economy last year and is the state’s biggest export industry – has continued to demonstrate resilience.
“The resources sector is now employing more people than before the pandemic, with ABS data showing jobs in Queensland mining grew by almost 30 per cent in the 12 months to May 2021, and by almost 70 per cent over the past five years,” he said.
“Demand for Queensland’s high-quality resources, plus a whole range of in-demand critical minerals, will continue to be strong well into the future because the world needs ethically sourced raw materials to meet its energy needs and to create new green technologies.”
The Cook Colliery mine restart will take place in two phases, with the first phase – to bring the operation out of care and maintenance and back into production – to start immediately and conclude by late 2021.
