Curragh coal complex operator Coronado Global Resources has paid $1.9 billion in Queensland royalties since 2018, including a whopping $1.2 billion demanded since a new regime was introduced in FY22.
The full weight of the royalty burden was revealed in the company’s recently released half-year results presentation.
It comes after receivers and managers were appointed for fellow Bowen Basin miner Bowen Coking Coal and related entities Bowen PCI and New Lenton Coal this month.
That followed the rejection of Bowen Coking Coal’s most recent submission to the Queensland Revenue Office for a short-term deferral of its royalties owing.
The Curragh complex, about 14km north of Blackwater, supports more than 2000 direct jobs.
In addition to exports, its supplies coal to Stanwell that underpins about 15 per cent of the state’s base load electricity generation.
The Coronado half-year report noted the company’s prime focus was on ‘ensuring adequate liquidity’ and said it was exploring a variety of plans should further action be required through this period of sustained low metallurgical coal pricing.
The Curragh site has already seen a cut in operating fleets from 16 to 11, resulting in $100 million reduction in costs since March 2024.
‘Despite index prices that were 33 per cent lower year-on-year and investment capital for the Mammoth underground, the Curragh complex was cash positive before Stanwell obligations and state royalties for H1,’ Coronado reported.
The company said the Curragh operations delivered strong ROM production in June to end the half year with a 1Mt inventory balance that would materially support performance in the second half of 2025.
Mammoth now has three production panels in operation and is expected to achieve its production plan for the year. It is expected that Mammoth will ultimately produce up to 2Mt of saleable coal per year.
Coronado said substantial drilling works had been completed, with a proven 41Mt ROM reserve of high-quality met coal, similar in quality to the existing Curragh North open cut mine.
Mammoth costs are expected to be in the second quartile of the cost curve, averaging down the group’s costs per tonne and the impact of the Stanwell rebate and Queensland royalties.
Mammoth is an expandable project with optionality for further growth in its development across potential Phase 2 and Phase 3 expansions.
The Curragh site has been operating since 1983 and was acquired by Coronado in 2018.
Curragh’s metallurgical coal is exported to steelmakers throughout the world while its thermal coal output is primarily sold Stanwell to generate electricity at the Stanwell power station near Rockhampton.