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“The Japanese government has been asking the Australian government to implement any measure in such a way that it does not impact Japan’s supply of LNG from Australia, and the Japanese government will continue doing so,” a Japanese government official told The Australian Financial Review. He also said Korea was focused on securing more urgent supplies of critical minerals. “The sense of vulnerability they have because of china’s dominance of that market is enormous.” Senex Energy, a subsidiary of Korean steelmaker Posco and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Resources, earlier this month announced plans for a $1 billion coal seam gas expansion in Queensland. Government and Japanese trading house sources in Tokyo said there was also a huge appetite by Japanese companies to invest in the Australian energy sector, particularly now that political risk meant China and Russia were being ruled out for new investments.

South Korean steel maker Posco will partner with Gina Rinehart to pump more gas into the domestic market with a $1 billion coal seam expansion, as the Albanese government insists the fuel is vital to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. With work set to begin in coming weeks, one of Australia’s biggest Asian energy allies and Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Energy aim to lift annual production at their jointly owned Queensland Senex venture in the Surat Basin to 60 petajoules within two years. Senex says the investment, which still needs approval by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, will create more than 200 construction jobs at its Atlas and Roma North projects, and help close a looming shortfall in domestic gas supplies that the competition regulator said this month could reach more than 56 petajoules, or 10 per cent of forecast 2023 demand.

Tata Steel, which has vowed to stop trading with Russia, will use a meeting with the Palaszczuk government to say the state could double its coking coal exports to India over the next decade to meet surging demand for steel.But while Mr Narendran forecast a strong future for India’s trade with Australia in coking coal, he downplayed the likelihood India could displace China as a destination for Pilbara iron ore. Australian iron ore companies have long looked to India’s growing steel industry as a potential growth story for Pilbara exports, with those dreams recently boosted by a joint venture between Indian-controlled Legacy Iron Ore and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting over the Mt Bevan magnetite project in Western Australia.

Media Release | The Hon Madeleine King MP
Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia | 5 August 2022.

Soaring coal and gas exports, turbo­charged by the Ukraine war, have driven the largest trade surplus in the nation’s history, filling government coffers and potentially halving the forecast budget deficit for the past financial year. An ongoing commodity price boom drove the nation’s trade surplus to a record $17.7bn in June, ­according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, leaving the trade balance for 2021-22 more than 54 per cent higher at an unprecedented $137.4bn. CBA senior economist Belinda Allen described the trade figures as “truly extraordinary in the context of where we were in 2016, when we were recording very persistent deficits”.

Remember ‘Energiewende’– the green energy transition that globalists held up as a green energy model for the world. German politicians were so convinced that gas and coal were stranded assets that they closed all their reliable power generators, without even bothering to build any more to replace them. Energiewende has cost Germany $36 billion annually since 2015. By 2025, the total amount spent will hit $580 billion. Our economic system is in danger of collapsing,” the Premier of Saxony told Die Zeit newspaper. “If we aren’t careful, Germany could become deindustrialised” he said. Welcome to life under Net Zero!

Government-operated facilities deliver $166b in export income for WA State Government-operated ports in the Pilbara have again achieved record annual throughput with key commodity iron ore responsible for the lion’s share of $166 billion in export income for the State. Existing port users — BHP, Fortescue Metals Group and Roy Hill — were each allocated a 25 per cent increase in capacity while Hancock Prospecting and Mineral Resources were given the nod to jointly develop a new iron ore export facility at Stanley Point berth 3 at South West Creek. The world’s biggest bulk export port, Port Hedland, was responsible for the majority of the increase with throughput rising from 546Mt to 561Mt.

Australia’s trade surplus hit a record $16 billion in May bolstered by surging demand and record prices for commodities, including coal and gas, though fuel imports also jumped 23 per cent amid soaring global energy prices. “In dollar terms the value of coal exports were larger than the value of iron ore exports in May for the first time since April 2009,” Commonwealth Bank senior economist Belinda Allen said. “Both thermal coal and LNG are both used as an energy source globally and sanctions against Russia are having a large impact.” In addition to the strong May result, coal export earnings were revised higher for April, up by $2.9bn.

WA’s gas & ore continues to boost national ledger. Western Australian LNG and iron ore has again helped drive Australia’s trade balance to another record surplus in May. The higher than expected surplus of $15.97 billion, up $2.7b on the previous month, was driven by rising prices for coal and LNG exports, as well as continuing robust demand for iron ore. Economists said the figure, which represented the 53rd successive month of surpluses, reflected the underlying health of the Australian economy.

MINING companies will be slugged six times as much as the Queensland government rakes in billions in forecast royalties, a new analysis reveals. The new royalty regime adds three tiers to the existing tiered structure, with the top rate being raised from a 15 per cent tax to a 40 per cent hit. Royalties are levied against revenue, not profit, which means company costs and future investments are not taken into consideration.“The Australian mining industry always pays its fair share of tax, while providing royalties to state governments to pay for improved roads, hospitals and other infrastructure and services,” Ms Constable said.