Curtis Island New Mining Frontier of Queensland State
Queensland state is known for its coal resources, but new evidence point that the region's mining frontier has shifted to Curtis Island what with the number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects lined up in the island.
On Wednesday, the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics released figures showing 87 projects worth $268 billion across Australia, evidence that Australia's mining boom supposedky dwindling is all hearsay. Of the total figure, 22 projects worth $78.4 billion are located in Queensland.
Of the 22 projects, $60.8 billion are into LNG development projects on Curtis Island, a figure that immediately dwarfs 10 coal projects worth $10.2 billion in the Bowen Basin.
John Barber, the bureau's senior economist, said the shift from Bowen Basin just shows the area's lack of plans for sustainability.
"There aren't that many mega projects in the Bowen Basin," Mr Barber said.
"There are some large ones, worth more than $1 billion, but not of the scale of the thermal coal and LNG elsewhere in the state."
Regardless of the shift and supposed deceleration in mining activity, these projects still correlate to thousands of potentials jobs in Queensland.
At least 2,800 building jobs are expected from the 10 coal projects in the Bowen Basin, and another 1,610 once the mines start operational, while 17,000 construction jobs are expected from the LNG development projects on Curtis Island.
Once online, they could generate an additional 3,000 more.