The Vulcan Coal Project is a small scale, short term coal project located within a well-established coal mining region of Queensland. It is proposed on disturbed land immediately adjacent to a number of well-established large scale coal mining Projects. Based on this and limited social impacts determined to be associated with the Project, the need for broad community engagement has been determined not to be required.
There is something deeply troubling and rotten about the corrupted process that the Qld State Labor Government has given Vitrinite (a privately owned coal mining start up), with for its unique speedy treatment in granting of its Mining Lease and Permits Then the same Government reached signed agreement with Vitrinite to truck 2 Million tonnes of unwashed coal per year over the Central Highlands Roads for “Bulk Testing.”
What sort of corrupted process is this?
How especially did Resources Minister Scott and it seems Steven Miles the Deputy Premier (as well Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning) decide that everything was compliant and and above board?
Minister Stewart you were happy to be photographed officially opening the Vulcan Mine.
According to the Vitrinite Website the Jupiter Project or Vulcan Mine is Vitrinite’s first coal mine to actually start mining export quality coal and selling it.
Resources Minister Scott Stewart said the new Vulcan coal mine was the first mining project for Vitrinite.
“The project shows ongoing investor confidence in Queensland’s world-class resources, infrastructure and skilled workforce,” he said.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mackay/vulcan-metallurgical-coal-mine-approved-near-moranbah/news-story/f39a626d91f5184035cfc5755ab51dea
You have to know something about how and why you approved it!
After all 2 Central Queensland residents are now dead due to your decisions to allow these AB Triples combinations to cart up to 140 tonnes of unwashed coal on public roads.
How about doing the honorable thing and admitting you made an error, and throw the whole matter up for Official Public Review.
Vitrinite acquired the Jupiter Vulcan Project asset on the 17th September 2018 as an Exploration Lease and in 18 months have taken this through to granting of a full Mining Lease including all State Government permits.
The Vitrinite Vulcan Coal Mine Stakeholder Engagement Plan Vulcan Complex Project April 2020 in part states
Vitrinite will extract up to 600 kilotonnes (kt) of high-quality ROM coking coal from the bulk sample pit for testing by a number of international coal consumers. To access the coking coal within the bulk sample area, up to an additional 150 kt of weathered thermal coal lying above the coking coal, will also be extracted, incidentally. The bulk sample does not form part of the VCP however its features are assumed to form part of baseline conditions for the purposes of environmental assessment of the VCP.
The VCP is a small scale, short term coal project located within a well-established coal mining region of Queensland. It is proposed on disturbed land immediately adjacent to a number of well-established large scale coal mining Projects.
A majority of the land within the MLA has been previously disturbed by agriculture and mining related activities. There are no rural or residential dwellings located within 10km of the Proposed VCP.
Based on this and limited social impacts determined to be associated with the Project, the need for broad community engagement has been determined not to be required.
Representative bodies for the community (IRC, government agencies) will and have been consulted and the general public will have the opportunity to comment on the EA application and PRCP as part of the EA application assessment process.
Vitrinite consider this to be an appropriate level of engagement.
https://epbcpublicportal.awe.gov.au/_entity/sharepointdocumentlocation/b88608f7-796b-ed11-81ac-00224818a1ee/2ab10dab-d681-4911-b881-cc99413f07b6?file=Att%20D%20Stakeholder%20Engagement%20Plan.pdf
Not only has the whole need for a full environmental and other approval process been self determined by Vitrinite as not necessary and kept secret. The Government has already given its approval for the 600,000 first bulk coal trial and then at least a further 2 years of 2 Million Tonnes a year for a bulk sample pit for testing by a number of international coal consumers
That is an awfully large long term bulk sample.
What international coal consumers are you selling it to as a distinct Vitrinite Vulcan Coal coking coal?
How are you selling it to international coal consumers, when at most it has just been blended with the raw coal of other coal companies mines such as Anglo Moranbah North and Grosvenor.
Anglo are selling it as their coal blend and Anglo are paying for the rail to port charges and the port charges and no doubt the Royalties.
Has Vitrinite Vulcan Mine paid any royalties at all for the 5 Million tonnes or so of coal it has mined.
Based on this and limited social impacts determined to be associated with the Project, the need for broad community engagement has been determined not to be required.
Representative bodies for the community (IRC, government agencies) will and have been consulted
No one from the public or community even needs to be told, let alone be allowed to consult; or heaven forbid object to it.
Quite obviously the State Government is in full agreement with this and especially Resources Minister Scott and Steven Miles the Deputy Premier (as well Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning) as Vitrinite gleefully informs us they have already consulted Government agencies and no one needs to be consulted
What a glorious way for a small start up export coking operation (with no apparent income from coal sales) to get large cash flow almost immediately and not have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars up front and likely 2 years of construction time in building a proper rail loop train load out and washplant.
Have Vitrinite even paid its reclamation bond money up front to the State Government as all other coal companies do?
Or has that also been secretly waived by the State Government?
Does Vitrinite even have signed contracts to rail the coals to the export ports?
Does Vitrinite have any contracts with the port operators to export their coal
Why has this start up coal mining company Vitrinite Bright Coal, been granted special conditions that no new coal mine let alone an export coking coal company has been allowed to do since the early part of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen time as Premier in the early 70’s?
Vitrinite acquired the Jupiter Project asset on the 17th September 2018. Two (2) phases of drilling have now been carried out including the most recent ‘Geostatistical Grid’ drilling for JORC Measured in the Vulcan Pit area.
Mining- The mining process will involve coal being extracted via open-cut pits through truck-and-shovel mining operations. The mining will involve a relatively small and shallow (maximum depth 40m) open-cut pit being constructed to extract material
https://epbcpublicportal.awe.gov.au/_entity/sharepointdocumentlocation/b88608f7-796b-ed11-81ac-00224818a1ee/2ab10dab-d681-4911-b881-cc99413f07b6?file=00-2022-09361%20Referral.pdf
I can see what Vitrinite get out of it. Instant cashflow to finance what is likely to be at least a $1 Billion dollar bill to properly set up the Mine with its own washplant, rail loop and train load out.
1.3.2 Project Description
The Mine is a small-scale coal mine that will extract approximately 6 Mt of run-of-mine (ROM) hard coking coal at a rate of up to 1.95 Mtpa. Coal extraction occurs via a single open-cut pit. Truck-and-shovel mining operations are employed to develop the pit.
The Mine will operate for approximately four years. It has developed from the bulk sample project, which commenced in 2020 and ran for approximately 12 months while the Mine was undergoing environmental authority and mining lease application processes. The Mine will comprise a further three years of mining and a number of years of rehabilitation.
Rail Loop
A rail loop will connect to the existing network in the south-east of the ML and will traverse the south-western boundary of the ML. The loop is positioned in the western portion of the ML, between the ML boundary and the existing BMA flood levee that runs north-south through the ML (Figure 1-16). The loop will require approximately 4.5 km of rail to be located on the ML. A number of areas of cut and fill will be required along the alignment to facilitate required grades.
Controlled level crossings are proposed where the rail line will cross Saraji Road and connect to the existing Goonyella rail network.
https://vitrinite.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Vulcan-Complex-PRC-Plan.pdf
It cost the Middlemount Coal Mine Operators at least $500 million dollars to start the Middlemount Mine including washplant rail loop and trainload out in 2012 for nearly the exact same coal output and like Middlemount, Vitrinite uses a contract workforce and equipment to do the mining so has not had to lay out any of its own capital for equipment and directly employed production and engineering workers either.
Annual average non residential construction costs 10-year average (2011-2020) is 3.7% which would make the cost at least a billion dollars when you add in the added complexity with Vitrinite such as level crossings and pre-existing flood bunds
The coal-handling and preparation plant at Middlemount is due to be completed this month, with a rail spur in place by December, for initial production at a run of mine rate of 1.8 million tonnes a year in the 2012 financial year.
https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/capital-costs-rise-with-reserves-20110317-j4m60
Not only has this corrupted process, been approved by a State Labor Government.
The very same Labor Government reached a commercial in confidence deal allowing Vitrinite to use the inadequate, long term under resourced accident prone roads of the the Central Highlands Isaac Council to transport the export only coking coal.
And how much compensation did Vitrinite and the State Government agree that was the maximum Vitrinite was going to compensate the Council for this 5 Million Tonnes of coal and now 2 deaths? Answer is $393,959. Less than $200,000 per life
The pavement impact assessment has a calculated value for the monetary contributions based on assumptions presented herein of $393,959 for the life of the project. A summary of pavement contribution by road section is provided in Attachment B
Based on the calculated development SAR’s pavement impacts of greater than 5% have been identified for a number of road links on the Peak Downs Highway. A monetary contribution will likely be required to ameliorate the impact. The results of this assessment indicate that the impact correlates to a monetary contribution for state-controlled roads of $393,959 as per GTIA methodology. It is expected that an agreement will be formed between Council and Vitrinite for the mitigation of expected pavement loading on Council controlled roads.
https://vitrinite.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/EA-Amendment-Application_Supp-Info-doc_Appendix-4_Transport-Impact-Assessment.pdf
Did Vitrinite ever inform the State Government or anyone else publicly or officially, that Kalari are in fact not the company hauling all this unwashed Vitrinite Coal around on public roads
Road use approvals have been obtained through local council and the state authorities thorough notifiable road use agreements, backed by detailed traffic and pavement impacts assessments.
To undertake the haulage activities, Vitrinite have partnered with Kalari who have a local presence and a proven track record of safe and effective road haulage with world class safety monitoring and management systems.
Set to commence in late August, coal will be delivered to a combination of Moranbah North Mine, Blair Athol Mine and Capcoal Operations using AB Triples combinations and consists of up to 50 movements per day. Road users should expect minor delays.
Vitrinite and Kalari are committed to road safety and have implemented a detailed road use management plan, approved by local council, to ensure the safe operations and safety of all road users.
https://vitrinite.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Community_Notice_Road_Use.pdf
This Government now has the blood of it seems at least 2 dead public road users in the last 2 weeks.
One on the Saraji Road outside Dysart last week, and a fatal accident the week or so before in the 50km speed limit central area of Moranbah, just near McDonalds.
Deputy Premier Miles and Resource Minister Stewart can you explain how this shortened corrupted approval process was agreed to and signed off on by the State Government.
As the State Government and Vitrinite agreed and boasted in writing, “Road users should expect minor delays.”
Not playing Russian roulette with loaded over size AB Triples combinations.
Vulkcan Mine Traffic plan excerpts
https://vitrinite.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/EA-Amendment-Application_Supp-Info-doc_Appendix-4_Transport-Impact-Assessment.pdf
