Queensland port minister Craig Wallace led a site tour on Monday of 30 interested parties that also included representatives of Clive Palmer’s Waratah Group, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi.
“The world’s top coal companies are showing huge interest being part of the development,” Wallace said in the statement.
“Global demand for Queensland’s coal is increasing and judging by the fantastic interest shown here today by industry, we’ll have customers and investors on hand to deliver this major project.”
The miners have an August 1 deadline to lodge official expressions of interest.
"Once all submissions are received, the North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation will evaluate the submissions to see which parties are best placed to participate in the next phase of design and environmental approvals," Wallace said.
Subject to these approvals, the first coal could be exported from these terminals as early as 2017.
Brazilian coal and iron ore giant Vale is keen to expand its footprint in the Galilee basin, which would use Abbot Point as its nearest port, while Indian giant Adani Enterprises already has a lease on the terminal.
In May a port subsidiary controlled by Indian conglomerate Adani Group outbid major international rivals to purchase the 99-year lease of the Abbot Point Coal Terminal from the Queensland government for $1.829 billion.
The sale was struck by Adani-controlled Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone, which manages the biggest private port in India.
Other companies linked to the bidding by various reports included Hong Kong-listed Cheung Kong Infrastucture Group, Macquarie Group and Deutsche Bank’s real estate investment business RREEF.
Canada’s Brookfield Infrastructure Group, which owns a 71% stake of the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal lease in the state, was also believed to have made an offer for the ABCT lease.
Construction group Buildev, half owned by coal magnate Nathan Tinkler, was also reported to be a member of a consortium bid for the lease.
Located 25 kilometres north of Bowen, ABCT is the most northerly coal port in Queensland, with throughput capacity of 50 million tonnes per annum, but Adani took note of the scope to increase capacity to 80Mtpa.
“We have harboured aspirations to expand globally and were in search of [the] right business opportunity with strategic fit,” Adani chairman Gautam Adani said.
“Abbot Point is our contribution to India’s increasing global ambition and will boost synergy with other businesses of the group.”
Adani is a leading Indian thermal coal importer. India’s coal output is consistently falling short of domestic energy demands, with this widely forecast to worsen in the coming years.
The acquisition of the lease puts Adani in a strong position to advance its $7 billion Carmichael coal project in the undeveloped Galilee Basin, which is targeting 60Mtpa from open cut and underground mining, with first production in 2014.
Like the other Galilee Basin projects such as those led by mining magnates Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer, Adani plans to build a 500km rail line from the virgin thermal coal basin to link it to Abbot Point.
Adani bought the Galilee acreage off Linc Energy in August for $500 million cash, plus a royalties agreement which Linc expects to provide a total cash stream of $3 billion.
The sale of the ABCT lease signals the end of the Bligh government’s controversial privatisation spree, which included the float of Queensland Rail National, to help the state win back a AAA credit rating.
With more pressing concerns on the state’s finances since the disastrous wet season, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the funds from the sale of the ABCT lease would be committed to the reconstruction effort.
In a statement today Bligh said the proceeds were well above initial expectations of $1.5 billion, but the state government announced this sale could earn more than $1.9 billion back in June 2009.
