Australia coal port clears environmental hurdle
SYDNEY, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Australia's Queensland state government on Thursday gave its environmental go-ahead for a A$3.5 billion ($3.1 billion) coal terminal, clearing a key hurdle for a project aiming to ease export bottlenecks.
The Wiggins Island coal terminal on the northeastern coast still needs approvals from Australia's Federal government, though construction of a fist phase could begin as early as next year, a state minister said.
The project would add up to 84 million tonnes of additional coal-handling capacity annually to that of the nearby Gladstone terminal, taking total export capacity of the terminals to 150 million tonnes a year.
"Wiggins Island will greatly enhance Queensland's ability to get our number one export across the seas to 33 potential markets," Queensland's minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Paul Lucas said in an e-mailed statement.
More than 20 collieries have expressed interest in taking up the new export capacity, Lucas said.
Years of under-investment at Australian ports, combined with surging demand from Asia, have left the ports severely congested, among them the giant Newcastle port -- the world's largest coal export terminal.
Supply bottlenecks in Australia have long pinched the Asian coal market, driving up spot coal prices.
Blueprints call for the terminal to be built in three stages. The first stage would lift capacity by up to 25 million tonnes by 2012, Lucas said.
Construction for the project could begin in as early as 2009, though further government approvals at the Federal level before work could begin, Lucas said.
Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal, exporting 257 million tonnes in 2007, mostly from mines operated by Xstrata Plc (XTA.L), BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX) and Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX). (Reporting by Fayen Wong, editing by James Regan)
