PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland and New South Wales coal industries delivered more than A$66-billion to the local economies and supported 381 000 jobs in 2013/14, new data has revealed.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) pointed out on Monday that coal miners spent about A$31.3-billion during the same period, including A$5.8-billion on wages and salaries and A$25.5-billion on goods and services.

QRC CEO Michael Roche noted that with New South Wales expected to go to the polls next month, and the newly elected Queensland government settled into is position, the fact that the coal industry supported 17 150 businesses across both states was a timely reminder of the importance of the industry.

“It also brings into sharp focus the catastrophic consequences for Queensland and New South Wales if the Greens are allowed to implement their policy of shutting down the East Coast coal industry,” Roche said.

He added that despite the current downturn in prices, the International Energy Agency (IEA) continued to forecast long-term demand growth for coal from Asia.

‘The IEA is projecting the global coal trade will grow by some 40% by 2040, and Queensland and New South Wales have the opportunity to win back Australia’s position as the world’s largest coal exporter by 2030.”

Roche noted that significant effort was being put into reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from coal, through new technology, including super-critical high temperature combustion and commercial scale carbon capture and storage.

“Queensland continues to enjoy a comfortable lead over New South Wales in terms of economic contribution because of its high-quality and highly valued metallurgical coal that is exported around the world for steelmaking. Added to that, there’s the huge potential of the Galilee and Surat coal basins to keep Queensland ahead of our southern colleagues for many decades to come.”