Coal is here to stay. It’s part of the energy mix. Australia mines the cleanest thermal product and coal will fund a renewable energy future.
That comes from one of the most charismatic leaders in the Queensland mining industry.
Bravus Mining and Resources chief operating officer Mick Crowe addressed the audience at this week’s 2025 Townsville Mining and Critical Minerals Forum.
Indian Parent company Adani has multiple investments in Queensland including mining, rail, manufacturing, port operations and solar farms.
Main image: Carmichael Mine rail network
The world was using more energy, especially in developing countries, which was increasing life expectancy, decreasing child mortality and raising standards of living, Mr Crowe said.
The world would rely on fossil fuels to help develop the third world from subsistence to manufacturing to tech economies, he said.
Mr Crowe said coal would remain part of the energy mix and while ever the world needed to burn coal it should be the Australian product, the world’s cleanest, that feeds the world’s power stations.
“We as Australia, are a superpower of energy (and) if we want to be a superpower in the future in critical minerals, we have to leverage off what we’re a superpower in today.
“You’ve got to have money and lots of it and you’ve got to have an investment appetite, which also means you’ve got to have enough money to live through the bumps till you start making cash and that’s what creates jobs.
“I can see a Queensland industry. It does have an awesome critical mineral sector, but if we don’t leverage off our coal and gas industries today, if we don’t get the incentive behind those people to keep building new mines, so we get that runway to build the future in critical minerals, the dip will kill us.
“The only options for us is being in the game or don’t be in the game. And by being in the game, we create a lot of real good. … Coal and gas are absolutely part of that. Let’s lean into that and build a critical minerals future.”
Australia exported around 350 to 400 year million tonnes of coal a year in a world market of eight billion tonnes.
China mined 3.7 billion tonnes and India recently increased production capacity by 160 million tonnes capacity in one year, Mr Crowe said.
The Bravus Carmichael mine is a thermal open-cut coal mine with 1200 full-time employees located about 160km north-west of Clermont in the Northern Bowen Basin.