Qld commits cash to Galilee coal infrastructure

The Queensland government will announce a major investment in rail infrastructure in the Galilee Basin to ensure one of the mega-mines proposed by India’s Adani Group and GVK get a green light next year, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Premier Campbell Newman, who held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Brisbane late on Sunday, said that he was prepared to invest in capital works to ensure the projects got off the ground.

Leaders at the Group of 20 summit affirmed their commitment to boosting energy efficiency and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.

Mining companies lead new push for carbon capture, burial

Supporting action on climate change while continuing to export coal is not the easiest policy tightrope to walk, but companies like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto believe they can do it with the help of people like Dr Richard Aldous, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Aldous is the chief executive of Co2CRC, the research group that has spent more than a decade pumping about 65,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide deep underground near Port Campbell in Victoria.

The goal of successfully storing carbon emissions underground has always attracted its share of sceptics, but in light of this week's climate pact between China and the United States, it looks set to become a serious focus of future efforts to reduce the levels of carbon in the atmosphere.

WICET blowouts cause shipment delay

The Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal has delayed its first coal shipments until late March as disputes continue with contractors over cost blowouts on the Queensland project, according to the Australian Financial Review.

WICET was aiming to start shipping coal by November 24, but has moved the first shipment date back to March 15. Chief executive Robert Barnes blamed contractors working on the project for the delay.