The Queensland government has granted a mining lease which clears the final hurdle for the expansion of a Bowen Basin coal mine.
The lease allows Anglo American to expand its Lake Lindsay steel-making coal mine operation near Middlemount in Queensland.
This will extend the life of the mine and secure the long-term future of 500 jobs.
When fully operational, the expanded mine will produce 5.6 million tonnes of steel-making coal.
Queensland Resources Minister Scott Stewart said: “Steel-making coal is one of our state’s biggest export earners, worth nearly $60 billion in the 12 months to May this year.
“We need steel for construction, domestic appliances, automotive and mechanical equipment, and also for turbines to generate renewable energy on wind farms.”
The existing Lake Lindsay mine is located within Anglo American’s Capcoal Mining Complex in the Bowen Basin, 21 kilometres south, south-west of the township of Middlemount.
Seperately, Anglo American and Mitsubishi Materials signed a memorandum of understanding last month to create an ethical copper value chain.
To meet the growing demand for metals with “strong provenance credentials”, the two will collaborate to develop a copper product line.
