<p>Major components of Queensland’s coal exporting infrastructure came on line this week, topping-up the state’s already substantial coal throughput with an additional 10m tonnes of coal exports each year.</p> <p>Premier Peter Beattie opened a new coal mine, its rail link to the coast and an extension of Dalrymple Bay port on Wednesday (November 5).</p> <p>The Hail Creek Mine was developed at a cost of $460m by partners Pacific Coal, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, and Japan’s Sumisho Coal and Marubeni Coal.</p> <p>The 47-km rail link between the mine and stage six of Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal represents a $115m investment that raises capacity by 10m tonnes to 55.5m tonnes of coal a year and makes Dalrymple Bay one of the largest coal export terminals in the world.</p> <p>Hail Creek will export 5.5m tonnes of coal a year and generate about $400m a year in export revenue for at least 25 years. </p> <p>Pacific Coal now has major interests in four Queensland coal mines, the others being Blair Athol, Kestrel and Tarong. </p> <p>Both Japanese partners, Marubeni and Sumisho, have investments in other coal mines in Queensland and in New South Wales. </p> <br />
