Queensland’s Cape York peninsula looks set to become the next battleground in the ‘benefit-from-our-country’s-natural-resources’ versus ‘safeguard-our-country’s-natural beauty’ debate.
The ultimate destination for the adventure-seeking grey nomads could be changed forever with coalmining companies lodging a raft of new applications to explore for a rare, highly valuable form of coal.
The Australian newspaper reports that the Queensland state government is considering 16 applications for coal exploration permits in the area, 13 of which have been lodged in the past six weeks.
The paper reports that the government – under increasing pressure over mining on prime agricultural land – has already signed off on four separate permits near the Rinyirru National Park, north of the Aboriginal community of Hope Vale on eastern Cape York.
The Wilderness Society warns that Cape is the “next big target” for the coalmining industry, and it says it could have disastrous environmental consequences.
It seems none of the mining applications affect basins already protected under the government’s controversial wild rivers legislation — which bans mining within a 1 kilometre buffer zone of the waterway — but some rivers have been earmarked for future declarations.
Mines Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said Queensland had some of the world’s toughest environmental protection regulations, with very few exploration permits leading to a viable mine.
“Those permit holders have got a long, long road ahead of them and they know it,” Mr Hinchliffe said.
Anthracite, a particularly rare and valuable form of coal, was first discovered on the Cape’s southeast in the late 1800s.
Colin Randall, the managing director of Mineral and Coal Investments, one of two companies to secure an exploration permit in the area, said Australia currently imported all of its supply of the mineral from Vietnam.
“Of all the coal in the world, it’s in the shortest supply,” Mr Randall told The Australian, explaining the company was planning a small-scale, niche mining operation on the Cape. “It’s high-rank, high-value coal, and very rare.”
Hmmm! Wedge, thin end of, springs to mind!
With the battle over plans for a massive gas hub just north of Broome in WA really heating up, a number of this country’s most iconic travel destinations are facing the prospects of major change in the coming years.
And the moral of the story is …enjoy it while you can!
