QCoal dispute drags in Japan trading partner

QCoal founder Chris Wallin’s battle with state Labor politicians over the workers’ camp at his Byerwen coal mine has unwittingly dragged in a major trading partner.

QCoal's Byerwen mining camp. Picture: Supplied.

QCoal founder Chris Wallin’s battle with the Queensland Labor Government over the workers’ camp at his Byerwen coal mine has unwittingly dragged in one of our major trading partners.

One of the world’s largest steel makers, Japan’s JFE is a 15 per cent partner with QCoal in Byerwen, which has been targeted by specific legislation as part of the State Government’s “Save Glenden” campaign.

Legislation was introduced attached to the Child Protection Amendment Bill last year which will force the closure of the mining camp and the forced relocation of the workforce to the small Glencore mining town of Glenden 40 minutes’ drive away.

Like their partner QCoal, no-one told JFE, Queensland’s largest single trading partner, that the legislation was being introduced and rammed through state parliament in a day.

Importantly, they also were not told that the existing three mining leases associated with the Byerwen mine would be retrospectively withdrawn by the State Government if QCoal was unable to meet its deadlines of the staged closure of the camp.

The fact that there is nowhere near enough suitable accommodation in Glenden to accommodate up to 800 workers and that the first deadline for 10 per cent of the workforce to be housed in the town by 2025 is unlikely to be able to be met means this massive investment, and the future of the mine and the town, is in doubt.

It also highlights the sovereign risk issues currently plaguing the mining industry in Queensland as international investors reassess Queensland as a safe place to invest in the years ahead. Two years ago Queensland raised the top royalty rate 15 per cent to 40 per cent on coal and gas without prior consultation, a move which then Japanese Ambassador Shingo Yamagami said sent “shockwaves” through Tokyo’s stockmarkets.

Coal billionaire Chris Wallin. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Birthday boy

Sentinel Property Group staff presented a birthday surprise for long serving North Queensland portfolio executive Michael ‘The K Man’ Kopittke when he recently turned 65.

Affectionately known at the Brisbane syndicator as ‘Our Man in the North’, Kopittke also is a mover and shaker in Townsville where he is a well-known business identity and a board member of the Townsville Chamber of Commerce.

A regular part of Sentinel CEO Warren Ebert’s entourage on the executive team’s overseas travels, Kopittke has also been the victim of some pranks and one was pulled on his birthday.

“We had to send up a false flag on his birthday,” said long-time friend since their days with bakery chain Brumby’s, Sentinel chief experience officer Michael Sherlock.

“This was done by getting K Man to join a zoom call by telling him he was needed to speak to a Suncorp property executive about Townsville.

“When he called in to the Sentinel boardroom, almost all the Sentinel staff were in there to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.

“If we hadn’t put up the false flag, we wouldn’t have been able to get him on the call. Even after we had sung Happy Birthday, K Man still wanted to know whether the guy from Suncorp was there.”

Before joining Sentinel in 2015, Kopittke was a master franchisee for Brumby’s, developing almost 60 stores in Queensland and New Zealand, before the business was sold to Retail Food Group. Prior to that he was general manager for Pepsi in Queensland.

Michael Kopittke celebrates landmark birthday. Picture: Evan Morgan