THE Qld Department of Environment and Science has granted Pembroke Resources environmental authority (EA) for its 100pc owned Olive Downs coal project in Central Queensland.
The EA authorises the activities for Olive Downs’ 79-year mine life, and provides the conditions for the operation of the mine.
The 813mt open cut JORC resource holds a 2bt underground target, with 514mt open cut JORC reserves, and is a similar size to Adani’s Carmichael mine.
Pembroke said that 90pc of the coal would be used for steelmaking.
Pembroke chief executive, Barry Tudor, said the company was “looking forward to Federal Government approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and the granting of a mining lease so that it can begin construction”.
“The grant of the EA represents the most important milestone for the project so far and provides a clear pathway towards commencement of construction and first coal,” he said.
The company said it had already assembled the necessary elements required to begin construction immediately, including access to power, water, rail and port, and has awarded a $184m EPC contract for a coal handling and processing plant.
Olive Downs is set to benefit from its Bowen Basin location that gives it easy access to existing infrastructure, as well as creating up to 500 jobs during construction and up to 1000 when the project reaches name plate capacity.
The project is expected to deliver billions of dollars in royalties for the Queensland government.
Qld Resources Council chief executive Ian McFarlane said the coal was high quality, and the mine close to ports, which highlighted the wealth of opportunities Queensland could generate from the Bowen basin, the largest exporting coking coal basin in the world.
The project was approved in May 2019 by Queensland’s Coordinator General, and expects to begin production as early as 2020.
According to Pembroke, Olive Downs has already attracted significant interest across Asia, including Japan, Korea and China.
