Australia’s big miners are not averse to a political fight.
Consider the biggest miner of them all: BHP.
In 2010, it fought fiercely against the super profits tax and helped bring down a prime minister. In 2017, a state party leader who championed an increase in mine lease fees in Western Australia lost his seat after a campaign by BHP.
And since 2022, the big miner has railed against Queensland’s revamped royalty scheme, brought in by Labor and now supported by the Liberal National government.
On Wednesday, BHP escalated its campaign by blaming “unsustainable” royalties and market conditions for its decision with its joint venture partner, Mitsubishi, to suspend operations at its Saraji South coal mine in the Bowen Basin, and slash 750 roles across the state.
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The big miner said it will also conduct a strategic review of the BHP FutureFit Academy in Mackay – an educational facility that trains new miners – because of the royalty scheme’s “unsustainable impact on our business returns”.
Shortly after the announcement, two other miners operating in Queensland, Anglo American and QCoal, revealed job cuts.
Royalties alone don’t explain the decisions.
