PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland government this week announced that an environmental-impact study (EIS) for the proposed 20-million-tonne-a-year expansion of the Abbot Point coal export facilities would start.

Abbot Point currently had a capacity of 50-million tonnes a year, and the proposed expansion would increase capacity by 70-million tonnes a year to cater for additional coal from the Galilee basin, including Adani Mining’s proposed Carmichael mine.

State Development Minister Anthony Lynham said the environmental assessment was the next stage in the expansion.

“This government is committed to a balanced approach to protecting the environment and delivering vital infrastructure for Queensland’s economic future,” Lynham said.

In March, the newly elected Queensland government canned the previous government’s plans to dump dredge soil generated from the Abbot Point expansion in the Caley Valley wetlands, and instead announced plans to place dredged material on unused industrial land next to the existing coal terminal.

The expansion project proposed dredging about 61 ha of seabed within port limits, outside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Lynham said the EIS would take from six to nine months to complete and include 20 business days for public consultation — double the amount provided by the previous government.

Adani Mining would pay for the full cost of the study.

The study would look at all environmental impacts, including detailed investigations into dredging impacts, social and economic impacts, marine ecology and terrestrial ecology (including flora and fauna), and management of cultural heritage with the Juru traditional owners.

“The port expansion is a critical element for unlocking the coal reserves in the Galilee basin, which has the capacity to take Queensland’s coal industry to the next level and create thousands of jobs,” said Lynham.

Construction for the proposed port expansion would create about 120 jobs for up to four months, as well as jobs associated with the proposed mines and flow-on supply chain jobs.