World Coal Enrols New Australian Future Coal Participant

The addition of Brisbane-based Bowen Coking Coal Limited (BCC) to the World Coal Association (WCA) is a further sign that a modernised and future-focused coal advocacy movement is materialising.

Speaking in Brisbane today, WCA CEO, Michelle Manook, said the confluence of global energy challenges to have emerged this year has made it clear that coal is vital in delivering energy reliability, affordability, and security, as well as being essential to steel production.

She said it was time to unify around the raft of abatement technologies and processes which can deliver a decarbonised, sustainable future.

Coal is at a turning point in its evolution and is shedding its `old coal skin. The enrolment of a new wave of Members over the past few months – in India, South Africa, Mongolia, and Australia – is evidence that a future coal industry is emerging.” 

We have seized the opportunity to galvanise the whole coal value chain, recognising the need to differentiate coal and demonstrate how it is moving in a wholly new and innovative direction.”  

Ms Manook says the fact that up to 99% of emissions can be abated through technologies and processes which exist today should be reason enough to embrace coal as a commodity which can transform and decarbonise.

Added to this, similar technologies can be applied to the steel and cement sectors, both of which are major consumers of coking and thermal coal, but ironically are key material inputs to the clean energy transition in the manufacture of wind turbine masts, solar PV panels and frames, and hydroelectric stations.

Coal can help drive decarbonisation as a critical raw material for the significant quantities of steel required for the renewables sector and as a low cost and reliable energy source for industry and consumers during the planned energy transition.”

Ms Manook says coal can go beyond its traditional uses and achieve net-zero aspirations continuing to provide critical fuels like hydrogen and a raft of value-added products including polymers, carbon fibres, foams, and fertilisers.

Bowen Coking Coal CEO, Gerhard Redelinghuys, says the company sees enormous benefit in joining an alliance of progressive coal organisations across the whole value chain which are committed to responsible coal practices.

It is evident that as an industry coal cannot remain the same. It needs to evolve and innovate as it has for more than 150 years, and it can only do that as a coalition of conscientious, forward-focused participants.”

Bowen Coking Coal Executive Chairman, Nick Jorss, says as a global supplier of metallurgical coal, it is a vital time to advocate on behalf of coals multiple attributes.

Coal is an essential commodity for the production of steel, and the provision of low-cost energy, and a long-term driver of economic and social development. Bowens high-quality coking coal production will supply the steel industry which is vital both for continued global industrialisation and planned decarbonisation.”

The energy crisis we are seeing unfold in Europe and beyond confirms that coal is a secure and reliable commodity with a long and productive future ahead of it.”

Bowen Coking Coal joins a new wave of Members which have joined the WCA, including Thungela (South African owner of demerged Anglo-American assets), Seriti (South African owner of former South 32 assets), Menar (South African private investment company), Gainwell Engineering (Indian and Australian technology provider), Tavan Tolgoi (Mongolias largest metallurgical coal supplier), and Coal India (the worlds largest coal supplier).

Bowen Coking Coal (ASX BSB) owns the Burton-Lenton Complex (90%), Bluff Mine (100%) and the Broadmeadow East Mine (100%), as well as the Hillalong (85%), Isaac River, Cooroorah and Comet Ridge Coking Coal Projects, all located in the world-renowned Bowen Basin in Queensland, Australia.