The terminal, which is being touted as a solution to the bottleneck of coal in central Queesnland ports and is planned to ultimately handle 80Mtpa, is believed to be delayed by coal companies keen to reduce costs.

According to a report in The Australian, the first stage is earmarked to cost $1.983 billion, however, a consoritum of eight miners, including Xstrata, are trying to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the development cost because of expected high operating costs.

Under the current costings, the port would cost at least $9.80 a tonne for miners to use. This is more than double the $4.80 a tonne paid at the existing RG Tanner coal terminal at Gladstone.

Members of the WICET consortium, which includes Anglo Coal Australia, Aquila Resources, BHP Billiton, and the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance have signed capacity commitment deeds to take a combined 25Mt a year of capacity at the coal terminal, which will be funded and run by the miners.

The contracts are due to convert to take-or-pay contracts in April, to give the project a financial close by the middle of next year.

In November 2009, WICET called for expressions of interest in Stage 1 of the Terminal.

Last month coal producers were given interim permission by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to begin collective negotiations with QR Network for access to its Moura and Blackwater rail systems in Queensland.

Access to these systems is needed to transport coal to WICET.