Energy-hungry
India and China have snapped up almost all of Australia's next big coal field,
the northern Galilee basin, three years before production even begins,
according to a report.
Just 1.2 billion of the more than 20 billion
tonnes on offer in the rich Queensland field has not been sold to Indian and
Chinese interests, following last weekend's announcement that GVK would buy
Hancock Coal's Galilee assets.
The Indian infrastructure giant said it would
pay US$1.3 billion for mine, rail and port assets on a 7.9 billion-tonne coal
tenement which The Australian newspaper said accounted for about 40 per cent of
Galilee's current resources.
India's Adani owns a comparable slice, some
7.8 billion tonnes, with another 3.7 billion held by Australian billionaire
Clive Palmer, who is developing his deposit in partnership with Chinese
investors, according to analysis done for the newspaper.
All Palmer's output is destined for Chinese
power stations, in a 20-year deal worth US$60 billion.
The only significant holding not in the hands
of the industrialising giants is a 1.2 billion tonne allotment being jointly
developed by Australia's Bandanna Energy and American investment firm AMCI.
Indian companies have been racing to snap up
the globe's coal assets as they build power projects, steel and other plants to
fuel the country's fast-growing economy. India is heavily dependent on coal for
power generation.
China is also thirsty for Australia's
resources, which has sparked intense debate with a June study commissioned by
the left-leaning Greens party showing the local mining industry was 83 per cent
foreign-owned.
Diplomatic tensions between the two flared in
2009 when Beijing arrested Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu on bribery and state
secrets charges just weeks after the firm snubbed a major investment by
state-run Chinalco.
Hu, an Australian passport holder, was last
year convicted and jailed for 10 years on the charges, which were linked to
tense iron ore contract talks.
Surging demand for resources has seen
Australia's economy boom, with the value of its mining and energy exports
jumping 27 per cent in the 12 months to June to Aus$175 billion (US$179
billion) due to high commodity prices.
AFP
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