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In the mid 2000s the Australian economy entered into a mining exploration and export growth phase, involving a ten year plan to develop 120 new mines / mine extensions and 34 new ‘super size’ mines, with the majority of these being coal mines to produce coal for export. The overall target is to increase Australia’s coal exports to almost three times the current level.
One example was the Wandoan Coal Project mine in Eastern Australia. If approved and financed, it would be one of the first of the super size mines. Driven by Glencore Xstrata Coal – one of the world’s largest coal-producing corporations – the Project aimed to build a mine 50 km long, covering 320 km², requiring the damning of two rivers, a 500 km rail line and risking biodiversity impacts with the construction of a coal port terminal in the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system.
Alone, the coal mined at Wandoan would have contributed 0.15 per cent of global emissions annually, and the total over its lifespan would be more than the emissions of 150 low-emitting countries.
Australia's coal expansion is directly linked to the industrial development of China and India. Chinese state-owned companies and Indian companies account for 80 per cent of direct investment in Australia's coal mining development. In its drive for international investment and the thousands of jobs each mine creates, Australia is activity encouraging the world’s largest mining corporations to access Australian lands, including National Parks and productive farming land, and turning a blind eye to illegal activities, land grabbing, destruction of Australia's fragile water reserves, and the industrialisation of farming communities.
In 2012 a Queensland State Court handed the farmers of Wandoan a bleak future, consisting of little more than metres of buffer between the mega mine and their productive farming enterprises, as well as allocation of some of their existing water resources. The decision left some farmers with stranded properties – physical islands in a sea of coal mine.
Friends of the Earth Australia worked with the affected communities, including in Wandoan, those along the railway line, and communities challenging the coal port terminal development. This included development of educational materials to inform farmers of their rights, communication materials, mapping, direct action blockade workshops, and media pressure to build and maintain a city profile that links impacted farmers with city consumers.
A significant victory for the environment movement was won in 2013 when, following years of protracted campaigning and a lengthy court case between Friends of the Earth and Xstrata, the CEO of Glencore Xstrata announced the company would not develop new 'greenfield' mine sites like that at Wandoan.
Campaigns such as this are being fought all around Australia. The goal is to undermine the ability of the Australian mining resource sector to provide coal product to international markets.