Annual Report 2010 - Verein der Kohlenimporteure eV

COUNTRY REPORTS 2010-2011
AUSTRALIA
Production
Australia was one of the few countries able to enjoy
economic growth in 2009 and to come out of the
global economic and financial crisis almost unscathed,
reporting 1.2% growth. This was due to the raw
material wealth of the country. In the meantime,
Australia has displaced China as the top iron ore
producer. Given China’s dynamic growth, Australia’s
main market for raw materials is expanding. Income
from natural resources – coal, ores and industrial metals
– puts the country and its 22 million inhabitants in an
extraordinarily good strategic position.
With its energy commodities Australia is the ninthlargest
energy producer, responsible for 2.4% of
world power production and 6% of world hard coal
New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (QLD).
Coking coal comes predominantly from QLD and
steam coal predominantly from NSW. Three quarters of
production comes from opencast mines.
Production in Australia’s export-focussed states was
tonnes.
In addition to the output in Queensland and New South
Wales, there is still some hard coal production in
Western Australia (6.8 million tonnes in 2010), in South
Australia (3.8 million tonnes) and in Tasmanian (0.6
million tonnes), exclusively for the domestic market. In
total, 355 million tonnes were produced.
As well as the hard coal production, lignite is mined in
Usable Production of Australia’s Major
Producing States
2008
Mt
2009
Mt
2010
Mt
New South Wales (NSW) 137 143 149
Queensland (QLD) 184 190 195
Total NSW / QLD
Western Australia / South
321 333 344
Australia / Tasmanian 13 11 11
Total
LB-T1
334 344 355
Chinese and Indian companies are attempting to secure
their needs for coal by participating in or acquiring
Australian mines, mining projects and even mining
example, China has concluded a 20-year contract for 30
million tonnes of coal per year with Resourcehouse. The
Indian Lanco Infratech Ltd. was successful in bidding
for three large coal mines (Ewington and Muja) of the
Griffin Coal Mining Co. Pty. Ltd. in Western Australia.
Australia is making great efforts to improve coal
technology, in particular in mining, combustion and
better exploitation of deposits. 23% of Australian
in opencast. The list of new steam coal and coking
coal projects is long. The scope and speed of output
expansion are increasingly dictated by infrastructure
development rather than issues related to financing
or reserves. This has frequently led to bottlenecks.
Currently, these occur primarily on the railways serving
export ports. In addition, the local labour market cannot
cover the needs of the mining industry for trained,
skilled workers to build and operate the new mines,
ports and other infrastructure.
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