JUST when the Queensland infrastructure crisis could not get any worse, a huge row is set to erupt over the Queensland coal supply chain.
Mining giant Macarthur Coal has sacked three quarters of its workforce, blaming infrastructure bottlenecks.
Anglo Coal also recently sacked 50 miners at its Bundoora Mine near Middlemount in central Queensland, blaming bottlenecks for its coal stockpile. Queensland Resources Council (QRC) CEO Michael Roche linked the sackings to an under-performing Goonyella coal supply chain.
“Something has to give with millions of dollars of revenue stacked up in coal stockpiles,” Roche said. The layoffs worsen the current infrastructure crisis in Queensland just as North American BlueScope Steel president Lance Hockridge has been announced CEO of the embattled Queensland Rail (QR).
Hockridge will take up the position in a climate of blame and mistrust and has the unenviable task of soothing volatile relations between the QRC and QR. Only weeks ago Roche aimed a scathing attack at the logistics supplier.
Australian Mining reported Roche’s comments in August, where he told Australian Rail Summit delegates the Queensland resources industry was being ‘hamstrung’ by logistics suppliers.