Conference focuses on minerals used in batteries that power electric cars

TRANSURBAN’S new toll payment system is ruffling feathers, with drivers saying the ability to pay for just one trip is now far more complicated than it used to be.

Illustration of Brad John by Brett Lethbridge

COAL may be far from dead but there are a heap of other new energy sources knocking on the door. One bloke who knows that well is former Queensland government chief geologist Brad John, who is helping organise a conference next month focused on minerals such as lithium and graphite, used in the batteries that power electric cars.

John has had a front row seat to the huge mineral exploration in Queensland since the 1960s. He tells your diarist that trips to remote parts of the state to survey rock and mineral formations were the fun part of the job.

“It was a bit like the Leyland Brothers,” he quips. “There were encounters with crocodiles and wild pigs. We got bogged down to the axles on occasions.”

John concedes he has always had rocks in his head.

As a young fella he fossicked for gems around Emerald, where his father was based for a time as a manager with the Commonwealth Bank.

Since leaving his government gig a couple of years ago, John has kept himself busy as chairman of the Queensland Exploration Council and as a conference organiser. He is also learning Chinese, a good move considering most of our mineral wealth is shipped to the Middle Kingdom.

The Australian Energy & Battery Minerals Investor Conference, the brainchild of Noosa Mining Conference organiser Phil Dickinson, will be held at the Royal on the Park Hotel in Brisbane on March 14-15.

ADANI BACKING

IT may sound a bit counterintuitive but the company sponsoring the conference is a part of Adani, the Indian conglomerate that is making a big bet on the future of coal in Queensland. Adani Renewables chief executive Jennifer Purdie tells your diarist that there is a need for a mix of energy sources as Australia transitions its power needs into the future. Purdie says work on Adani Renewables’ solar farm at Moranbah in the Bowen Basin is progressing with the project scheduled to come on line in October.

Alinta has been lined up as a customer and there are ambitions to expand the solar farm in the years ahead. Ultimately Adani could be produce enough peak solar power to run something like the Boyne Island aluminium smelter.

TUNNEL VISION

A FEW ruffled feathers with Transurban’s new toll payment system. City Beat has been contacted by one motorist who phoned the company several months ago to pay his toll for using the Legacy Way Tunnel.

As he doesn’t have an account he wanted to pay over the phone, something he has done on numerous previous occasions.

But the call centre said he couldn’t do that as the computer system was being upgraded, that they had no record of him using the tunnel but he would receive his bill in the mail in due course. He is still waiting!

Transurban say they have upgraded their software system but are not aware of any payment issues.

The company says that under the new system motorists can’t just ring up and pay for a single trip like they used to.

You now have to register your credit card and number plate to obtain a “road pass” which covers any travel on toll roads over a 30-day period. If you only make one trip that is the only amount deducted at the end of the 30-day period. If you don’t want to register your credit card, you can purchase a cash voucher at local services stations and or convenience stores. Sounds good but our mate is still waiting for his invoice.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

PUNTERS wanting to see what their investments were doing during this week’s market gyrations would have been disappointed that the old electronic ticker board sign at the Riverside Centre is no longer there.

In fact, the ASX’s Matthew Gibbs tells us it was removed about two years ago as it was no longer deemed necessary in an age where people check their stocks on mobile phones and other devices.

ASX removed a similar display board on top of a Sydney building recently.