WHITEHAVEN Coal chief executive Paul Flynn has criticised the judiciary for letting illegal protesters off with “no more than a whipping with a feather” as the company considers prospects for the development of its next new mine, the Vickery project in the Gunnedah Basin.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Flynn also urged governments to address the “complete dysfunction” between state and Commonwealth functions that came to the surface during the drawn-out approvals process for Whitehaven’s $767 million Maules Creek coal mine, and to limit the ability of minority groups using taxpayer funds to challenge approved projects.
The coal industry itself also needs to “do more to stand up for itself” against the anti-fossil fuel lobby, he told a conference in Sydney this week.
Mr Flynn’s comments follow the criticism made earlier at the conference by Yancoal Australia chief executive Reinhold Schmidt, who said the mining sector was at risk of being harmed by “political point scoring” as legislators introduced additional assessment hurdles that resulted in duplication, increased costs, and, therefore, lost jobs.
However, NSW Resources and Energy Minister Andrew Roberts told delegates the NSW government was responding to the industry’s call for change. He said NSW had seen a “dramatic cut” in red tape for a mining application, and that the government was committed to halving assessment times for major projects.
Whitehaven already has state approval for its higher-cost Vickery project but is considering going back to the government to seek a revision, in order to almost double annual capacity from the originally envisaged 4.5 million tonnes to 8 million tonnes.
Despite the weak coal markets, Japanese and South Korean companies have approached Whitehaven, expressing interest in partnering in the project, with the company likely to sell as much as
30 per cent, Mr Flynn said. At the original capacity, Vickery would have cost only about $50 million, but the larger mine would require processing equipment on site and a rail link.
Weak coal prices have depressed the profitability of coal mines across the country, however Mr Flynn said Whitehaven’s financial position was “robust” and able to weather the further few years of price weakness being forecast by analysts.
“When we release our results in a couple of weeks’ time, that will show we are very satisfied with the year we’ve had and it will point to a good year ahead of us also,” he said.
In all, Whitehaven took 28 months to secure state approval for Maules Creek and 30 months to secure Commonwealth government approval. The Commonwealth approval was challenged in 2013 by the NSW Environmental Defenders Office, delaying the start of work from February that year until December. After that, the construction process was still constantly plagued by unlawful activist protests, resulting in more than 200 arrests, but hardly any of those resulted in any meaningful penalties, he said.
“The judiciary let us down in the end. Most of these people were let off with no more than a whipping with a feather,” Mr Flynn said.