Poor conditions in the coal industry continue to hamper mining developments as North Queensland Bulk Ports cancels its Dudgeon Point Coal Terminal project.
Construction of the $12 billion coal port south of Mackay will no longer go ahead, with North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (NQBPC) announcing it had requested Queensland's coordinator general cancel the project.
The project would have created an 180 million tonne capacity port with two export terminals, six rail loops and associated rail facilities.
However after delaying the project in 2013 as a result of soft of coal prices, NQBP said an environmental impact statement due on the 21st of June was not submitted.
NQBP chief executive officer Brad Fish said the development of the port hinged on demand, with the current short-term coal market unsupportive of such a venture.
"Although this particular development proposal will be withdrawn, it does not necessarily indicate that expansion to the coal export facilities will not be required at the Port of Hay Point in the future," NQBP chief executive officer Brad Fish said.
The cancellation of the project is being hailed as a win by environmentalists who were opposed to its development.
"(It) would have doubled the amount of shipping in the region," Australian Marine Conservation Society spokeswoman Felicity Wishart said.
The bulk port was being developed in part by Adani Group which is planning on building the massive new Charmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
The company will instead use existing capacity at Abbot Point.
The cancellation of the Dudgeon Point is the most recent in a spate of mothballed coal infrastructure ventures in Queensland.
Last year, GlencoreXstrata dumped plans to develop a coal export terminal on Balaclava Island, blaming the decision on poor market conditions.
While BHP withdrew from being the preferred developer of Terminal 2 at Abbot Point .
Poor current market conditions in the coal industry and excess port capacity are all driving factors in the cancellations as the coal market continues to lag.
Prices for premium hard-coking coal fell to $US120 a tonne in the June quarter from $US330 a tonne in 2011.
Thermal coal is sitting at $US72 a tonne on the spot market, a fall from $US125 in 2011.
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