On Saturday Resourcehouse stated it had secured Australia’s biggest export contract with a $US60 billion deal for its proposed China First coal mine and infrastructure project in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland.
Resourcehouse said the contract with China Power International Development, the flagship company of China Power Investment Corp, was to supply 30 million tonnes per annum of coal for approximately $3 billion a year over 20 years.
But an official from the Chinese company told state news agency Xinhua that the two companies had signed an agreement of intent, and they had not yet started price negotiations.
The official also said the sum of $60 billion was an estimation by Resourcehouse and had not been cemented in.
The China First project will include a large-scale thermal coal mine in the undeveloped Galilee Basin region near Alpha, west of Emerald. The complex will include four underground mines, two surface mines and associated coal handling and processing facilities.
The mine will be linked to a new coal terminal at Abbot Point near Bowen by a new 490km standard gauge, heavy haul railway line. The mine and associated infrastructure will create 6000 jobs during construction and 1500 during operation.
The China First development has been granted major project facilitation status by federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese and declared a significant project by the Queensland government.
