Japanese look to Allegiance Coal and Bowen Basin for power

Coal veteran Colin Randall has seen price shocks before. He was in the sector in the 1960s when oil was cheaper than coal, forcing mines to shut, so the pain being felt by the industry today is not new to him, according to The Australian.

Randall knows too well that bulk commodities are a long-term game and his strategy has been to target partners who don’t have the resources to mine. His strategy paid off last week when he announced a $3 million deal with Japan’s state-owned JOGMEC for his junior company, Allegiance Coal.

Strike threat to Qld $70b gas debut

Industrial action risks delaying the highly anticipated start-up of Queensland’s $70 billion LNG export sector, with a strike possibly set to hit the three projects being built on Gladstone’s Curtis Island from Thursday as labour unions demand more time off for workers, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The protected action planned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, one of four unions representing workers at the three LNG projects, is threatening in particular the schedule for the most advanced, a $US20.4 billion ($A21.9 billion) venture led by the UK’s BG Group.

However, projects led by Santos and Origin Energy, which are due to start up in 2015, would also be hit.

Creasy blames red tape for decision to stop exploring

Australia’s most famous prospector says he will scale back his exploration efforts and could eventually walk away from the industry altogether after growing increasingly frustrated with government regulation, according to The Australian.

Mark Creasy, whose high-profile exploration campaigns and their success have made him a legendary figure of Australia’s mining industry, said he would no longer start exploring in new areas and could end his exploration efforts within four years, unless there was a real change in the way the industry was regulated.