Ego is not a dirty word...
But coal is. This could be a long dissertation but it isn't going to be. I have already typed and lost the information once (blame Apple's latest upgrade) and I just want to give an overview. So let's say that the economies of Queensland and New South Wales greatly depend on coal mining. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are probably directly or indirectly dependent on coal extraction and export. Very similar to the importance of iron ore in Western Australia, but it doesn't come with quite so much controversy.
Australia is the largest exporter of coal on earth. 40% of the tonnage exported comes from these two states while the next biggest exporter is Indonesia with less than half of that share.
Coal directly and indirectly contributes to global warming from carbon dioxide (and other chemical) emissions from burning and also from less well known causes such as methane leakage from mines through soil. Coal has been a vital product in the production of electrical energy through burning at power stations (and elsewhere). Coal of a different sort is used in metallurgical processes, particularly steel making where it is converted to coke and is one of the primary ingredients. A variety of renewables are taking over production of electricity in many countries, the UK is a great example where coal mining, once a major industry has now been almost 100% phased out. Mind you, they haven't entirely stopped burning alternatives such as biomass but that is at least theoretically renewable!
The COP26 conference in Glasgow that ended over the weekend has issued a communique to "phase down" coal mining rather than "phase out" much to the sadness and disgust of many of the participating nations - hopefully you have read the news so I won't repeat what happened here. But it means inevitably that the shift from coal will continue. Alternative processes for metal production including steel are already being trialled or investigated, while renewable processes for electricity will continue unabated. And that's just the coal issues. Another outcome is that promises of job conversion for those involved in the coal and related industries will have to be delivered. We are not talking about a small cohort of people.
Meanwhile, a few brief notes on the photos which were taken from a viewing platform on the edge of one of the Moura-Kianga open cut mines. Coal mining, whether underground or open cut is not pretty. Open cut creates massive scars on the land as overburden, rock, soil, trees, farmland is laid bare and removed to the side to dig down into the earth and expose the coal seams, laid down millions of years ago.
The top shot shows a sectional overview of the vast expanse of one of the mines just outside the tow of Moura. The Moura-Kianga mines are metallurgical coal used in processes producing or refining metals like steel, lead and zinc. The coal is converted to coke which is the raw ingredient added to blast furnaces along with iron ore or scrap steel, coke, limestone etc. The second shot looks down deep into the mine where you can see the top of one of the very large dragline cranes that will most likely be removing more overburden. The coal is then dug up and transported by dump trucks so huge that entry to the cab which sits high up in the air is via a lengthy staircase. The coal is taken away and washed, graded, sized and loaded into heavy trains for the journey down to the port city of Gladstone via the new direct rail line that was opened in 1968 to shortcut the old lightly laid branch lines that went the roundabout way via Rockhampton.
You can just see the tip of the dragline in the distance in the top shot to give the whole scene some perspective.
In due course, closure of the mine will see the land remediated by the coal mining company. I doubt whether it will ever be the same again and my experience is that you can always identify remediated mining land because the contours do not look just right!
Lastly, because all the equipment and parts are so large, it usually comes in special convoys surrounded by police vehicles to shift other vehicles off the public highways as they pass. One of my other shots today (and another in the next day or so) show two such wide vehicles that required us to pull over as far as we could go to allow safe passage - even then it was a close run thing!
Ego is not a dirty word...
But coal is. This could be a long dissertation but it isn't going to be. I have already typed and lost the information once (blame Apple's latest upgrade) and I just want to give an overview. So let's say that the economies of Queensland and New South Wales greatly depend on coal mining. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are probably directly or indirectly dependent on coal extraction and export. Very similar to the importance of iron ore in Western Australia, but it doesn't come with quite so much controversy.
Australia is the largest exporter of coal on earth. 40% of the tonnage exported comes from these two states while the next biggest exporter is Indonesia with less than half of that share.
Coal directly and indirectly contributes to global warming from carbon dioxide (and other chemical) emissions from burning and also from less well known causes such as methane leakage from mines through soil. Coal has been a vital product in the production of electrical energy through burning at power stations (and elsewhere). Coal of a different sort is used in metallurgical processes, particularly steel making where it is converted to coke and is one of the primary ingredients. A variety of renewables are taking over production of electricity in many countries, the UK is a great example where coal mining, once a major industry has now been almost 100% phased out. Mind you, they haven't entirely stopped burning alternatives such as biomass but that is at least theoretically renewable!
The COP26 conference in Glasgow that ended over the weekend has issued a communique to "phase down" coal mining rather than "phase out" much to the sadness and disgust of many of the participating nations - hopefully you have read the news so I won't repeat what happened here. But it means inevitably that the shift from coal will continue. Alternative processes for metal production including steel are already being trialled or investigated, while renewable processes for electricity will continue unabated. And that's just the coal issues. Another outcome is that promises of job conversion for those involved in the coal and related industries will have to be delivered. We are not talking about a small cohort of people.
Meanwhile, a few brief notes on the photos which were taken from a viewing platform on the edge of one of the Moura-Kianga open cut mines. Coal mining, whether underground or open cut is not pretty. Open cut creates massive scars on the land as overburden, rock, soil, trees, farmland is laid bare and removed to the side to dig down into the earth and expose the coal seams, laid down millions of years ago.
The top shot shows a sectional overview of the vast expanse of one of the mines just outside the tow of Moura. The Moura-Kianga mines are metallurgical coal used in processes producing or refining metals like steel, lead and zinc. The coal is converted to coke which is the raw ingredient added to blast furnaces along with iron ore or scrap steel, coke, limestone etc. The second shot looks down deep into the mine where you can see the top of one of the very large dragline cranes that will most likely be removing more overburden. The coal is then dug up and transported by dump trucks so huge that entry to the cab which sits high up in the air is via a lengthy staircase. The coal is taken away and washed, graded, sized and loaded into heavy trains for the journey down to the port city of Gladstone via the new direct rail line that was opened in 1968 to shortcut the old lightly laid branch lines that went the roundabout way via Rockhampton.
You can just see the tip of the dragline in the distance in the top shot to give the whole scene some perspective.
In due course, closure of the mine will see the land remediated by the coal mining company. I doubt whether it will ever be the same again and my experience is that you can always identify remediated mining land because the contours do not look just right!
Lastly, because all the equipment and parts are so large, it usually comes in special convoys surrounded by police vehicles to shift other vehicles off the public highways as they pass. One of my other shots today (and another in the next day or so) show two such wide vehicles that required us to pull over as far as we could go to allow safe passage - even then it was a close run thing!