Clive Palmer to Construct New Queensland Coal Loading Facility

By Joel ScanlonJul 12 2010

Clive Palmer, the mining magnate plans to construct a new coal loading facility north of Abbot Point in Queensland. The new facility will be able to handle 40 million tonnes a year. This would transform the area into one of the largest coal ports in the world.

As part of a government privatization plan Abbot Point is due to be sold. Two sites have been allocated to BHP Billiton and Hancock Prospecting. The north Queensland region will see its coal loading capacity raised from 21 million tonnes of coal to 50 million tonnes.

Mr. Palmer said that he planned to put 40 million tonnes of coal a year here and he intended to build his own jetty as well. The documents were with the government and were in the public consultation phase. Mr. Palmer expects the process to be completed by the end of the year.