Anglo American agreed to sell Callide to Batchfire Resources which has raised $750,000 from investors, Greens Senator Larissa Waters claims, while the investment in jobs and equipment to rehabilitate the site may total more than $121 million.
Batchfire is a privately owned Australian company, based in Brisbane. Its directors are chairman Terry O’Reilly, Edek Choros, Stephen Lonie and Richard Barker, all of whom have considerable coal industry experience.
“We can’t let Anglo American dodge its responsibilities to provide local rehabilitation jobs by selling its mine to a shelf company with next to no assets without adequate security,” she said.
“The Queensland Audit Office has found that the state government has a terrible track record in collecting enough money upfront to cover the cost of workers rehabilitating the sites of resource projects.
“Recently it was revealed that no bond was collected for the Queensland Nickel Refinery, which faces an uncertain future and sits one kilometre from the waters of the Great Barrier Reef.
“By making sure that rehabilitation bonds have been paid before resource companies go bust, state governments will be able to properly restore the environment and immediately create new local jobs in rehabilitation.
“As coal companies go bust or leave Australia, it's workers who are hit hardest, and state governments can be left to clean up the mess. The Greens' have a plan to protect workers, taxpayers and the environment.”
Under the Greens' plan, a national audit of mines would establish the true cost of rehabilitation, and companies would pay extra funds into a Mining Trust Fund to secure investment in rehabilitation works.
“Our plan for securing rehabilitation jobs is in addition to our plan for a $1 billion Clean Energy Transition Fund to help workers and communities affected by the end of coal, and our plan to build at least 90% clean energy by 2030,” Waters said.
Callide consists of an open pit thermal coal mine and associated processing infrastructure that produced 7.6 million tonnes of coal in 2014.
It produced 5.6Mt in the first nine months of 2015, the majority of which was sold to two adjacent power stations under long term contracts.
A spokeswoman for Anglo American told ICN: "Anglo American has always honoured our regulatory obligations for our mining operations and will continue to do so throughout any sale process.
"It is inappropriate to link the sale of Anglo American’s Callide mine with the Queensland Nickel Refinery.
"All mining operations in Queensland are required to have a Plan of Operation, which details the liabilities for rehabilitation, and is approved and lodged with the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
"Under the Plan of Operation, the liability to rehabilitate the distributed area in the mining operation is calculated and provisions for the financial cost are made through bank bonds or bank guarantees. Anglo American has always had the appropriate bank guarantees in place for Callide."
The liabilities associated with Callide’s rehabilitation were part of the negotiations of the sale between Anglo American and Batchfire along with all other financial information associated with the operation. These discussions have been transparent and included as part of the due diligence performed by the purchaser in reaching an agreement.
