Mining giant QCoal to launch anti-govt offensive over requirement to house miners in Glenden

A mining company at the centre of a Queensland community’s battle against demolition has launched an advertising offensive against the state government in a bid to prevent its workers moving into the town.

A major mining company will launch a fierce advertising blitz against the state government in regional electorates, urging supporters to “tell them where to go”.

The dispute centres on the government’s move to save the tiny town of Glenden from demolition last year, meaning QCoal – owned by billionaire coal baron Chris Wallin – is now legally obliged to transition its workers from a temporary on-site camp to Glenden from March 2025, with all workers housed there by March 2029.

Miner Glencore was obliged to rehabilitate the area once it was done with its nearby mine but a concerted effort by the community and council led to laws being passed in August 2023, bypassing the normal parliamentary scrutiny process, to save the town.

This moved was flagged in an emotional address by then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at

The Courier-Mail’s inaugural Queensland Bush Summit.

QCoal, which is majority owner of the Byerwen mine, just near Glenden in the Bowen Basin, has formed a coalition with other companies, including Japanese equity partner JFE Steel, calling for those laws to be overturned.

Aerial shots of Glenden, Queensland. Photo: Isaac Regional Council.

The coalition, called Energy Resources Queensland, claims the law threatens the “future of a massive export business” and its 800 workers who mostly live in central or north Queensland.

But Resources Minister Scott Stewart has stood his ground, affirming the state government made “no apologies” for implementing the laws and saving Glenden, which has a population of less than 500.

The new advertising offensive includes a dedicated website with testimonials from workers contesting the move to Glenden.

“No one in the government asked the actual workers, the miners who work 12.5 hours a day, seven days straight, where they wanted to live. It’s a disgrace,” spokesman Paul Turner said.

“Our workers have been told where to go by the State Government, and they are not happy about it, so we owe it to them to fight on their behalf.”

But Isaac Regional Council, the Mining and Energy Union and the state government have all previously refuted these claims, underlining QCoal itself had over the years outlined how it would prefer to “house workers in local townships”.

The town od Glenden was saved from the bulldozer in 2023. Pics Adam Head

Real estate records revealed QCoal and Moranbah Nominees — a company linked to Mr Wallin — own $4m worth of property at Glenden, including 10 homes and 11ha of land.

Mr Stewart said the state government passed laws in 2017 designed to ensure communities benefit from large resources projects in the area, but the issue with Byerwen mine preceded those rules thus justifying urgent legislation last August.

QCoal has argued it is being unfairly treated because Glencore’s Hail Creek Mine worker’s cam — about 40km from Glenden — has approval to hold 1000 staff and is unaffected by the laws designed to save Glenden.

Mr Stewart said the Hail Creek workers camp was approved in its original form by the former Nebo Shire, which was absorbed into Isaac Regional Council in 1998, and had been operated and constructed in line with its development approval for nearly two decades.