The $1 billion Olive Downs mine in Queensland cleared a key hurdle last week but it didn’t rate a mention when Resources Minister Keith Pitt got on a video chat

A key federal minister has talked up the resources sector for a Queensland audience but somehow forgot to mention a $1 billion project which cleared a major hurdle last week.

SLIPPED HIS MIND

How do you seemingly forget about a $1 billion project?

Resources Minister Keith Pitt predictably talked up the sector and its resilience in the face of COVID-19 dramas on Monday during the first-ever Zoom video conference hosted by the Queensland Resources Media Club.

He even likened mining to “the V8 engine’’ of the state and national economies.

But there was a head-scratching omission as Pitt rattled off a list of major projects rapidly moving ahead in Queensland.

Minister for Resources Keith Pitt.

“Adani is on track for production in 2021, while Arrow Energy has made its final investment decision to proceed with its $10 billion Surat Gas Project that will create up to 800 construction jobs and 200 permanent operations jobs,’’ he said.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, there was nary a mention of the enormous Olive Downs mine, which just cleared a key environmental hurdle at the federal level last week.

Indeed, Pitt even made a point of releasing a statement last Thursday welcoming the milestone for the planned metallurgical coal mine in the Bowen Basin as “part of our journey of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic’’.

WORKING QUIETLY

While Adani remains the lightning rod for greenie protesters, Pembroke Resources has continued to quietly beaver away on the similarly massive Olive Downs open-cut mine near Moranbah.

The development, expected to create around 500 construction jobs and about 1000 operational roles, will eventually churn out 15 million tonnes of coal per year.

Over its estimated 79-year life, the mine should tip about $5.5 billion in royalties in to State Government coffers.

Pembroke boss Barry Tudor hopes mining leases will be granted in the next few months, paving the way for construction to get under way.

Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs mine could eventually produce 15 million tonnes of coal a year.

Meanwhile, none of this seems to have caught the attention of Adani critics, who on Tuesday are holding an “online global rally’’.

They are targeting one of the world’s biggest insurers, Marsh, and calling for the firm to rule out providing coverage for Adani’s Carmichael mine and other unspecified fossil fuel projects.

More than 3500 activists have vowed to take part in the “rally,’’ timed to play out just days before the Marsh AGM in New York City.

CULTURE WAR

A family-owned yoghurt business on the Sunshine Coast has just coughed up a $12,600 fine issued by the consumer cop.

The ACCC took action against the Queensland Yoghurt Company after finding it failed to include gelatine as an ingredient in some of its products from at least July last year.

(For those of you wondering, gelatine is a colourless and tasteless product sourced from the collagen in animal body parts. That means plenty of people may not want to ingest it.)

The offence is somewhat surprising since the award-winning firm, launched in 2003 and based at Marcoochydore, makes a point of highlighting its all-natural credentials and clear labelling.

A Sunshine Coast yoghurt company has been fined by the ACCC.

Since its humble start, QYC has grown to distribute yoghurt across the country, as well as in New Zealand and the US. It churns out about 2000 tonnes a year of the stuff.

City Beat couldn’t reach founders Bruce and Kaye Mathewson, nor their sons Paul and Grant, for a chat yesterday.

Instead, we had to settle for a terse two-sentence statement from the company acknowledging the error but providing no details as to how or why it happened.

“This omission was in no way intended to mislead customers and we can confirm that all associated packaging has been updated as of 15th May to comply with the ACCC findings,’’ it said.

ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court used the case to fire a proverbial shot across the bow to warn other food manufacturers to lift their game.

“Misleading representations relating to food are a 2020 enforcement priority area for the ACCC, and we will continue to take enforcement action where necessary,” she said.