QCoal, Queensland government at odds for legislation mandating employees live in or near Glenden
Resources Minister Scott Stewart has come out swinging at Queensland mining billionaire Chris Wallin, accusing him of a “propaganda crusade” to sway the state election and avoid propping up a mining town, but who misled who?
Mackay
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Resources Minister Scott Stewart has accused a billionaire of spending millions on a propaganda crusade to sway the state election and avoid propping up a mining town, as two mining giants and the Queensland government bicker over responsibilities and promises.
Glenden is a mining town aligned with Swiss-based Glencore, built with the expectation it would be demolished after the Newlands mine wound down.
A campaign to save the town shifted the responsibility of keeping it alive to QCoal, the owners of Byerwen coal mine, with legislation requiring it to move a larger percentage of its workers there, quicker.
QCoal recently launched its Tell Them Where to Go campaign to protest the new legislation, which requires it to shift 100 per cent of its workforce accommodation into Glenden by March 2029.
Former Isaac Regional Council Mayor Anne Baker, who led the Save Glenden campaign is now running for the state seat of Burdekin on a campaign to ‘save regional towns’ and ‘ensure coal royalties benefit Queenslanders’.
But QCoal instead insists Ms Baker “stood by while Glenden deteriorated from a thriving mining town”.
QCoal hosts the majority of workers at its Suttor camp, just outside Byerwen, and would have to move them either into Glenden in permanent accommodation, or just outside the town.
QCoal head of communications Paul Turner warned if QCoal was forced to close Suttor, up to 70 per cent of Macmahon’s contractor workforce — the major labour force behind the mine — would quit working at Byerwen.
Mr Turner said shifting accommodation to Glenden meant workers would have to travel an hour and back to the mine each day, factoring in bus waiting times, lengthening already tiresome 12.5 hour shifts.
Mr Turner claims the legislation could even force Byerwen miners and their families to live in Glenden, “making it difficult to attract workers”, fundamentally threatening the mine’s future, which Mr Stewart has slammed as an “absolute lie”.
Meanwhile, Glencore, which owns most of the housing in Glenden, is now expected to sell or pass on that housing to a direct rival operating in the same area, while housing its own residents at a permanent camp adjacent to its Hail Creek mine, 42kms southwest of Glenden.
QCoal is furious at what it believes to be a double standard, with its rival allowed to operate a camp, and the Queensland government’s assumption two rival coal companies with a history of legal battles would amicably come to an agreement exchanging assets now seems naive at best.
Fact, fiction, and history
Mr Stewart has alleged the founder of QCoal, Brisbane-based billionaire Chris Wallin, of doing an about-face on intentions to house Byerwen workers in Glenden following the mine’s initial approval in 2014.
He said he could fathom why a multinational mining company would behave this way but he could not understand why Mr Wallin, a Queensland “bloke” who owned a Queensland company named after the state, was “fighting against Glenden”.
“He came to the government and said we will accommodate workers,” Mr Stewart said.
“When he gets the mine lease, it all changes … that really irks me … you don’t have to be Nostradamus to see what they’re (QCoal is) doing.
“It’s a million dollar campaign against legislation that they don’t like in the lead up to the next state government election.”
But QCoal’s Mr Turner says the Environmental Impact Statement for the project proved it only ever committed to offering Glenden-based accommodation for up to 30 per cent of its workforce.
The Daily Mercury fact-checked this claim and found QCoal had said it assumed 30 per cent of its workforce “might choose to live in Glenden” during the early stages of the project, potentially rising.
By 2032, the Byerwen operator said it would have arranged for 120 houses, and 20 duplexes to house the section of its workforce living locally, to meet that 30 per cent target.
The other 70 per cent would be “staying in purpose-built accommodation villages” while rostered on shift, with no expectation they stay in Glenden on their days off.
QCoal, as part of the EIS process, said that it was prepared to “transport the majority of workers” from a Glenden-based accommodation village by bus to the Byerwen mine.
A Google Maps search shows the direct travel time as roughly 25 minutes each way.
Now, Mr Turner says it is impossible to comply with amendments to the Mineral Resources Act 1989 that require QCoal to accommodate 10 per cent of its Byerwen workforce in Glenden from March 2025, given Glencore has a chokehold on hundreds of properties and is unwilling to sell.
Complicating the relationship, QCoal has in the past tried to sue Glencore or its subsidiaries not once but twice.
Mr Turner clarified when QCoal made its original 30 per cent commitment, the town then had a 1300-strong population which had since dwindled to ‘about 200’, which he admitted contrasted with the 2021 census counting 477.
He said “unfortunately” the mining world had “changed considerably” in the last decade with more workers wanting to stay at mine-site camps as opposed to the nearest town.
QCoal further alleged its Byerwen workforce was being unfairly singled out to become Glenden’s saviour when Glencore’s Hail Creek staff could also contribute given both mines and their camps were almost equidistant to the town.
Mr Stewart hit back saying Byerwen’s accommodation camp – built in 2018 following the mine’s construction start date in June 2017 – was only ever approved temporarily.
He said this contrasted with Glencore’s Hail Creek’s camp, which has 1056 beds, approved as a “permanent” construction by the former Nebo Shire Council almost 20 years ago.
Fresh shots fired
After attacking the Queensland government for its push to get QCoal’s workforce into Glenden, and out of Suttor, QCoal has now pivoted to calling out Ms Baker, in a release from ‘Energy Resources Queensland’ (ERQ).
ERQ is a single-purpose group ‘anchored’ by QCoal, with partners including Macmahon (Chris Wallin has a small ownership stake), mining suppliers Sedgman and MPK, and JFE Steel (partners to QCoal for the Byerwen mine).
“Former Mayor Anne Baker stood by while Glenden deteriorated from a thriving mining town of 1300 to the current run down and ignored town of 200,” Mr Turner said in the ERQ release.
“If anyone is to blame for the current state of the town, it is former mayor Anne Baker. While she effectively deflected that blame during her so-called “save Glenden” campaign, the facts speak much larger than her hollow words.”
QCoal claims during Ms Baker’s time as Isaac mayor, the golf course, bowls club, childcare centre, and “almost every shop” closed, while the population severely dwindled.
In response, Ms Baker said these aren’t the “true facts”, and are “seriously insulting to everyone involved for the past seven years”.
“I appreciate Mr Turner is being highly paid to do a job for the company,” Ms Baker said.
“But desktop research from your computer in Brisbane and a short stay in a camp hardly makes you a credible spokesperson on this long running community issue of Glenden, which is very close to my heart.”
An Isaac Regional Council spokesman said the golf club is still running, and recently held a social day.
“We would like to make this absolutely crystal clear that Isaac Regional Council is not looking for QCoal to take over the community facilities or run the town of Glenden,” the spokesman said.
“Council’s role is to provide community services, the role of QCoal, Glencore and other resource companies are to support their nearby communities.
“In the case of Glenden, this means offering accommodation in town to their workers and investing in housing stock in the community.”
What about Glencore?
But while Glencore no longer needs most of its Glenden real estate, following the closure of its Newlands mine in early 2023, it has hinted it could not simply sell nor give away properties to QCoal even if it wanted to.
That is because the state government, in approving Newlands decades ago, stipulated the Glenden township be removed once mining operations wound up, effectively forcing the Swiss multinational to either demolish or relocate more than 300 homes.
The impending destruction triggered Isaac Regional Council’s Save Glenden campaign that led to parliament passing legislative changes in August last year.
Pat Weir, the then Natural Resources, Mines and Energy opposition spokesman, slammed it as a rush job and Burdekin MP Dale Last described it as “nothing short of disgraceful”.
But Mr Stewart told the Daily Mercury the changes actually created an opportunity for the government to create a plan that would allow Glencore to act with “goodwill” and release its property to QCoal in a deal giving both sides a “win-win”.
He said the first step was already done having completed a report detailing the conditions and configurations of Glencore’s extensive accommodation portfolio as well as the community facilities in Glenden it had propped up.
Mr Weir had last year warned Glencore’s houses had “lots of asbestos issues” but Mr Stewart said there was nothing stopping QCoal, if it wanted to, from building its own workers’ camp in Glenden.
But Mr Turner said QCoal had already bought land in Glenden to do just that, with records showing the company purchased 11.3ha from the state government in December 2012 for $1.28m.
“But the (camp) application was opposed by the state government as the land, the only freehold land of sufficient size, was too close to the school,” he said.
“QCoal purchased all suitable and available freehold properties in the town of Glenden over the last few years, a total of 13, and leases another two homes.
“These homes are currently full of Byerwen workers.
“The rest of the properties are either owned by Glencore or privately owned.”
The Daily Mercury asked Glencore what, in its opinion, was stopping it from selling or giving its Glenden properties to QCoal.
The company declined to answer on the record.
The Daily Mercury asked QCoal if the Queensland government gifted it land it could use adjacent to Glenden, would it build a new camp, shut down Suttor and transfer workers over?
The QCoal spokesman did not directly answer the question, but said the issue “has always been about choice for our workers as to whether they live in Glenden or at the mining camp on site”.
“This legislation was a knife in the back and QCoal is focused on having it withdrawn or amended to ensure its workers retain that choice and that all mines in the area contribute to saving Glenden,” Mr Turner said.
“Unfortunately, the way this government has targeted Byerwen means there is very little trust that they will act in the workers’ best interests.”
QCoal has on two occasions tried to expand its 350-bed mining camp at Suttor and make it permanent but the Isaac council rejected it both times with the Planning and Environment Court upholding the decision.
The council had stated making the camp permanent “undermine(d)” Glenden’s future and QCoal had failed to prove its existing or future workforce could not be accommodated in the town.
But in what could be considered an ironic twist, Mr Stewart in June 2023 gave preliminary approval for Byerwen to expand the camp by 100 rooms.
Mr Weir weeks later on August 8 criticised the move saying the minister had “overridden the wishes” of council with a move that would “decimate” Glenden.
Mr Stewart retorted saying Byerwen Coal had “cited a lack of” housing in the town and a camp expansion would provide it with “certainty of accommodation” for the mine’s lifespan.
Just 15 days later he changed his tune to jump on the Save Glenden bandwagon, giving a speech in parliament praising the Labor government for its “strong track record” of making sure significant resources projects benefited regional Queensland.
Newly-elected mayor of Isaac, Kelly Vea Vea, has said that she would walk side-by-side with QCoal into Mr Stewart’s office to negotiate amendments.
“I think what was disappointing is that offer was put to them prior to the launch of their campaign,” Ms Vea Vea said.
She said the council would continue working with QCoal in the hopes they began to “actively prioritise benefits for the community”.
“We’ll continue to work with the state government in their negotiations with Glencore,” she added.
“We’ll continue to appeal to Glencore to start releasing some of that housing in bite-sized chunks to help us minimise the risk and Isaac Regional Council is going to be the middleman … but obviously it takes stakeholders like QCoal, who have a $1.8bn mine, who will be in that community for the next 50-odd years to actually come to the table and start working with the community rather than fighting government.”
Mr Stewart said whether or not QCoal complied with its mid-year deadline to submit a progress report would reveal whether it was acting in “good faith”.
“Why is [Chris Wallin] not supporting a small regional town in which he operates from ... I just don’t get this,” Mr Stewart said.
“Why is he fighting against Glenden. He came to government and said we will accommodate workers ... when he gets the mine lease, it all changes.”
Responding to Mr Stewart’s claims about Mr Wallin, Mr Turner said it was disappointing Mr Stewart was “making this personal”.
“This issue is not about one man, it is about 800 women and men who are directly and negatively impacted by this discriminatory decision by a Minister looking for a headline rather than to actually save Glenden,” he said.
For Ms Baker, what’s important is that the community, workers, and industry get a ‘win’, something she “knows is possible”.
“It won’t come from the broken promises of mining companies with deep pockets to expect to muddy the water with propaganda,” she said.
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