With a combination of innovation, sustainability, and resource diversification, the state has seen significant developments across its mining sector and a number of new and expanding mining projects which are set to play out in part, or in full, this year.

A new minister

Member for Burdekin, Dale Last, has taken the seat warmed by outgoing Resources Minister Scott Stewart who served in the last term of the Labor Government.

The resources portfolio was seen to be trounced by Labor when it hiked coal royalties without consultation and sat it at the bottom of the list of ministries.

While Labor tried to ignore coal it invested heavily in renewable energy options including wind and solar farms and pumped hydro.

Linked to this was support for both developing a crucial minerals province around vanadium reserves in North-West Queensland and the development of an associated battery materials industry. 

Mr Last said he would advocate to lift the resources portfolio in cabinet to a position better representing its contribution to the state economy.

Safety

2024 was marked by a spate of deaths on Queensland coal mines. There were four in the calendar year. 

Mr Last has committed to reinstating the mining warden to provide a more forensic response and to help instigate change. 

Regulation

Land access and bureaucratic red and green tape causing delays in the approvals process have been a recurring complaint of the mining industry.

It possibly affects junior miners most of all. Members of this group, roughly defined as having a market cap of up to $100 million and still in the exploration phase, carry the most risk.

They are represented by two groups, namely the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) and the Queensland Exploration Council (QEC).

AMEC says it has been lobbying long and hard for reform and had a win getting uniform environmental approval over several vanadium leases in North West Queensland under one application.

Outgoing AMEC Queensland director Sarah Gooley said they would be looking for a response to their concerns from the incoming government within six months.

Coal

Coal has a tailwind provided by the change in government which acknowledges its place as the state’s leading export industry and contributor of taxes, employment and supporter of small business.

A new group called Coal Australia led by Nick Jorss from Bowen Coking Coal and newly appointed chief executive officer Stuart Bocking is leading the charge in both Queensland and New South Wales to promote the industry’s position and get a seat at the table when it comes to developing of policy.

The players – Anglo American

Coal miner Anglo American will have a much smaller presence in Queensland’s Bowen Basin after the sale of assets in the second half of last calendar year.

Peabody Energy snapped up a raft of Anglo American metallurgical coal mines in a $5 billion-plus deal expected to close mid-2025.

The acquisition includes the Moranbah North, Grosvenor, Aquila, and Capcoal operations in the Bowen Basin.

And Peabody said Indonesia’s PT Bukit Makmur Mandiri Utama (BUMA) had agreed to acquire a majority interest in Anglo’s Dawson mine from it for a total consideration of almost $700 million in a back-to-back transaction.

Peabody described its purchases as being complementary to its existing Australian platform, including the Centurion mine, and expects them to produce about 11.3 million tonnes of primarily hard coking coal in 2026.

Anglo is also pulling out of Queensland’s Jellinbah East and Lake Vermont coal mines through a $1.6 billion deal to sell its interest in Jellinbah Group.

Buyer Zashvin is an existing shareholder in the Jellinbah joint venture, holding an equal 33.3 per cent stake alongside Anglo American and Marubeni.

The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2025.

BMA

Meanwhile, BHP is seeing signs of stabilisation in its steelmaking coal business, according to chief executive officer Mike Henry.

Production was up 20 per cent across the Bowen Basin sites it operates as part of the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) in the quarter ending September 30, 2024.

The lift compared to the same time last year was due to increased stripping enabled by improved truck productivity as well as Q1 FY24 being impacted by the extended longwall move at the Broadmeadow Mine, the company said.

BHP’s presence in the Bowen Basin is diminished with the sale of the Daunia and Blackwater mines in 2023 to Whitehaven Coal.

Smaller miners step up

Expect the state’s smaller coal miners including Bowen Coking Coal and Stanmore Coal to continue to consolidate in 2025.

Bowen Coking Coal has achieved first run-of-mine (ROM) coal ahead of schedule from the Plumtree North pit at its Burton mine complex in November.

The company said the milestone followed the recent completion of a $70 million equity raise that provided it with balance sheet flexibility to fund the Plumtree North development costs, pre-payments, guarantees and general working capital requirements.

Coronado

The 2025 prospects for Coronado Global Resources are looking up following the cut of its first coal at the Mammoth underground operation on the Curragh mining complex near Blackwater in December.

Coronado chief executive officer Douglas Thompson said the opening of Mammoth would be an exciting step for Coronado, its shareholders and Queensland mining.

“It will mark our first foray into underground mining in Australia and underpins our strategy of delivering organic growth to increase production and lower costs,” he said.

Mammoth has metallurgical coal reserves of 41 million ROM tonnes, with coal quality expected to mirror what is being mined at the existing Curragh North open cut. 

Contractors cashed up

What’s good for the owner is good for the contractor and that was evident when Golding Contractors inked a mining services agreement worth about $1.6 billion for a five-year-term at the South Walker Creek coal mine late last year.

The scope of the deal, commencing January 2026, includes operating and maintaining eight fleets of heavy mining equipment to remove overburden and mine steel-making coal at the Bowen Basin site.

Stanmore acquired the South Walker Creek operation in 2022 along with a package of other BHP Mitsui Coal assets in the Bowen Basin.

Hardrock miners

There’s been much hand-wringing about the imminent closure of Mount Isa Mines Copper Operations (MICO) which starts this year with the end to underground copper operations.

It’ll be followed by the end of operations at Lady Loretta lead zinc mine and the nominated closure date of the copper smelter in 2030.

Owner Glencore continues to develop third party tolling agreements and imports concentrate to maintain levels of copper concentrate for the smelter.

Glencore points to a $60 million exploration commitment in the area and a feasibility study to restart the Blackstar Mine which is in care and maintenance.

The outlook is sunnier over 100km further east in Cloncurry where an estimated 94 per cent of the shire is under a mining or exploration lease.

Evolution Mining has been going from strength to strength at its Ernest Henry operation since acquiring the mine from Glencore in 2016.

Praise has come from the scientific side of the industry with metallurgist Jon Loraine describing Ernest Henry as one of the cornerstones of Queensland mining whose potential is yet to be fully tapped.

“The fascinating aspect of Ernest Henry is that as exploration delves deeper, the mineralisation shows no signs of diminishing,” he said. 

“The ore body exhibits consistent grades and tenor over 1200m of vertical extent, indicating a large, continuous system. It has the potential to become a tier-one copper resource in the heart of the North West Minerals Province, where copper is critically needed.”

The rising stars in Queensland resources in 2025 would also include rare earth minerals and downstream processing ventures, Mr Loraine said.

Gas investments needed

All eyes are on Queensland gas mines and production as authorities speculate over how long dwindling reserves will hold out to service southern centres.

One of the good stories of the year is QPM Energy (QPME). The company has pivoted to make the most of the Moranbah Gas Project which it bought to fuel a battery materials plant proposed outside Townsville.

QPME is now tapping more reserves to support a contract to supply the Townsville Power Station.

The Moranbah Gas Project is located in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, 170km west of Mackay and 400km south of Townsville. 

Meanwhile, further south in the Taroom Trough, Shell and junior miners Omega Energy and Elixir Energy are digging deep to exploit unconventional gas reserves.

The Taroom Trough lies in the vicinity of Queensland’s gas hub at Wallumbilla, north-west of Brisbane, and wells being drilled are targeting gas at depth.

Omega told the ASX last year the well consists of re-entering the Canyon-1 vertical well and drilling a new horizontal section, called Canyon-1H, up to a maximum length of 1100m.

Omega plans to complete a multi-stage hydraulic stimulation, flowback and well testing program after analysing and integrating the results of the well.

In the same vicinity, Elixir Energy in 2024 achieved the first flow of gas to surface from the deep coals in the Taroom Trough at its Daydream-2 well, south-east of Roma.

It came from the uppermost stimulated zone in the well – a package of coal seams between 3786m and 3678m deep.

This was the deepest coal to have flowed gas to surface in Australia, the company said.

“We consider this is just the start of an incredible journey of bringing on the very large new sources of gas that Australia vitally needs,” chief executive officer Neil Young said.

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