Coal mine to provide jobs for Aborigines

The first coal mine planned for Cape York will generate indigenous jobs within weeks, with a drilling program due to begin before the summer monsoon season sets in, according to The Australian.

Experienced operator Bounty Mining bought into the indigenous-backed Wongai project, a proposed underground coking coal mine 150km northwest of Cooktown, last month.

The company has just kicked off an $800,000 capital raising to fund a five-week drilling program at the site, requiring the employment of two traditional owners.

Wongai, which will see 1.5 million tonnes of coking coal extracted for export through the Great Barrier Reef each year, is the brainchild of Cape York Aboriginal leader Gerhardt Pearson and the Kalpowar people.

South Korea’s resources push ahead of FTA deal

South Korea has made a push for its firms to win a bigger slice of investment in Australia’s resources sector as both countries commit to clinching a free-trade deal within months, according to the Australian Financial Review.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister, Yun Byung-Se, called for the Australian government to pay “special attention to facilitate Korean companies’ participation in large-scale resource development in Australia” following a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, according to a statement.

It is understood Korea is concerned Australian federal and state government regulatory approval processes are streamlined to facilitate investment by Korean firms.

Leighton’s Wal King: ‘I was a lame duck CEO’

Former Leighton Holdings chief Wal King said he had become ostracised within the construction company to the point of being “somewhat of a lame duck” CEO when the company was alleged to have paid a $42 million bribe to win a major project in Iraq, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Speaking for the first time since Fairfax Media revealed allegations that he approved the bribing of Iraqi officials, King challenged his successor as CEO, David Stewart, on why, having claimed to have been told of the bribe, he never alerted the Leighton board.

“In my whole period at Leighton I absolutely and completely refused to be involved in anything tainted by corruption,” King said, adding that he had tried to avoid working in counties where bribery and corruption were rife.