Lanco reapplies for Bunbury project
The Indian owners of a Collie coal mine hoping to build a major export facility at Bunbury have denied that a decision to reapply for Federal environment approval would delay the project.
Lanco Infratech, owner of loss-making Griffin Coal, sparked furious speculation last week when it withdrew its Bunbury coal-handling berth proposal from the Federal Environment Department, only to resubmit it hours later.
David Trench, Griffin's general manager of project development and corporate relations, said yesterday the move was not prompted by concerns the proposal would fall foul of Commonwealth environment regulators.
Instead, it was because of big reductions in the amount of material it planned to dredge and dump at sea as part of the project.
According to Mr Trench, the original submission to the Federal Government said Griffin would need to get rid of 2.7 million cubic metres of spoil but the figure had been revised down to 1.9 million.
He said the revision was based on changes to the design of the export facility, which would now be land-based rather than "exposed" and involve construction of one berth instead of two.
"It was just a due process procedure and we're still keeping the project's timelines," he said.
Mr Trench said the revised design would allow Griffin to halve the length of its dredging program to 22 weeks, a move he claimed would slash the project's costs by millions.
Under Lanco's plans, up to 15 million tonnes of coal would be exported out of Bunbury a year.
Set to cost at least $1.2 billion, the plan would involve the expansion of Griffin's coal mine, an upgrade of the rail line between Collie and Bunbury and construction of a shipping berth.
Despite Griffin's optimism, environmentalists remain sceptical because of weak coal prices.
The Conservation Council of WA said this made Collie coal, which was of relatively poor quality, uncompetitive.
Tim Buckley, a director at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, also doubted Griffin's export prospects, saying coal prices were forecast to "tumble" for years.
"Given Lanco is under a long-term debt-restructuring arrangement in India, I would suggest it is improbable that they would be able to access any other new source of finance for their existing business, let alone for a massive, high risk export expansion," Mr Buckley said.
