Thermal coal used for electricity provides only 13% of royalties to Queensland’s budget compared to coking coal used for steel manufacturing - which provides 87% in royalties, a new IEEFA report finds.

Mining Monthly, 31st May 2019: The New South Wales government has set itself the lofty target of increasing the value of mining production by 30% by 2020 from its $15 billion export figure in 2012-13. This ambitious goal is expected to be driven by the Hunter region, which is the major contributor to NSW coal exports, which is in turn the state's biggest export. 

Approving a new thermal coal mine is gifting gold to a sector in decline.

While the Queensland government moves reactively to fast-track the approvals process of the decade-long delayed Adani thermal coal mine in the Galilee Basin, thermal coal export forecasts continue to show a terminal decline globally in the long term, consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.  

Tim Buckley from IEEFA explains...

In its strategy paper BHP writes that it has "no appetite for growth in energy coal" regardless of asset attractiveness.
So even if it is cheap - the Big Australian doesn't want it.

ABC News reports

Coal shifts in South Korea and China could mean big changes for the region

FOR nearly a decade a South Korean Government-owned company has bought up land in the beautiful Bylong valley between Denman and Mudgee to establish a coal mine. KEPCO, which is 51 per cent owned by the government, identified Bylong as the place to mine high quality coal to export to South Korea and keep its coal-fired power stations delivering electricity to the domestic market.

State government forecasts show the threat to the Hunter Valley’s coal industry is yet to be taken seriously. Read the latest from IEEFA here

Almost a third of prime Hunter wine country is covered by coal exploration licences, new mapping shows. Find it here

Australia’s largest export customer for thermal coal is scrapping plans to build power plants. Read more

Communities in the New South Wales Hunter Valley need to apply more pressure to speed-up the process of transitioning from coal to renewables sources of energy. That was message being delivered at a summit held last month in NSW town of Singleton, a week before the announcement of plans to build a new coal-fired power station in the region.

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That was message being delivered at a summit held last month in NSW town of Singleton, a week before the announcement of plans to build a new coal-fired power station in the region. ABC's Greg Miskelly reports

The winds of change are in the air, and they carry no coal dust.

Read Rob McLaughlin's opinion piece in the Newcastle Herald here

As many countries shift away from coal mining and the industry finds itself under increasing scrutiny, some in the Hunter are worried the region is running out of time to restructure its economy.  Listen here

We're transitioning away from coal, for the better.

Carl Shoupe and his son Scott experienced firsthand the quick and devastating collapse of the mining industry in Kentucky, where during the downturn eight mines closed in one day. Now they're warning the industry in the NSW Hunter region to have a Plan B.

Read the full ABC News article here

Twenty years after the end of steel, the Hunter Valley stares at the end of coal. The signs have been there, but the ringing of the last drinks’ bell came on February 20 from Glencore, the valley’s biggest miner. Read the article in the Newcastle Herald here

The scientific consensus is clear: climate change is happening, making extreme climate events like heatwaves, bushfires, droughts, floods and severe storms regular occurrences. Across the globe governments are responding by transferring power generation to clean energy based on renewables, but NSW continues to lag behind, relying on coal power generation while doing little to help coal communities smoothly transition to new jobs and industries in the renewable energy sector.

NSW independent MPs Alex Greenwich, Joe McGirr and Greg Piper have released a policy to introduce a ten year adjustment strategy for NSW coal mining communities. Read about it here

On a week where the world's biggest thermal coal exporter Glencore is talking about capping annual coal production at 2019 levels to "transition for a low-carbon economy" then we know we are living through changing energy times. Glencore's boss Ivan Glasenberg said we believe this transition is a key part of the global response to the increasing risks posed by climate change.

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Australia's largest coal miner Glencore has succumbed to shareholder pressure to take action to address climate change, and announced it will cap its global coal output.

Read the news here

Environmentalists campaigning for an orderly transition away from coal, say the Hunter must begin preparing now.

It comes amid figures from the mining industry’s peak body, showing it’s contributing billions to our economy, and employing thousands.

https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2019/02/19/environmental-group-continues-anti-coal-campaign/

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced last week that a federal Labor government would create a Just Transition Authority to oversee Australia's transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. This echoes community calls for a " fast and fair " energy transition to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

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'We're not going to have a plan': New report has grim warning for Australia's coal exports.

Declining NSW coal exports since 2015 to key markets in Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan; a dramatic drop in new and proposed coal-fired power plants in those countries;

NEARLY two-thirds of people polled in the mining areas of Singleton and Muswellbrook say critical horse-breeding and wine growing areas of the Hunter should be off limits to coal mining.

Newcastle is proud to be the world’s biggest coal port, but we are also realistic about coal’s prospects. With the end of the mining boom and the need to transition to a more knowledge-based economy, the composition of Australia’s trade is changing. And much of this trade will be carried in containers.

Arguments over the future of the Carrington coal terminal reflect a much bigger question facing the Hunter region - how prepared are we for major changes in the coal industry? The world is changing. Hunter communities have sacrificed a lot for NSW's prosperity.