"Clean-coal" power part of Galilee coal mining plan  

The Australian has a report on a large scale plan for coal mining in Queensland's Galillee basin, with a "clean coal" power plant touted as part of the proposal (technology and dumping ground for the CO2 still to be determined of course) - Clean-coal power in giant Galilee plan.

THE giant Galilee coal project proposed by billionaire Clive Palmer for central Queensland has just got bigger with a power station utilising clean-coal technology proposed for the site.

Mr Palmer has proposed a $1.25 billion power station to be built adjacent to the site of the proposed new coalmine about 30km northwest of the tiny town of Alpha.

This puts the total cost of the entire Galilee project, which involves a new coalmine, a 490km railway line to a 40-million-tonnes-a-year two-berth export terminal at Abbot Point near Bowen, and now a power station, at $8.7bn.

The project still needs to get the environmental approval of the Queensland government, but if it does, it will be the first coalmine in the Galilee Basin.

The Galilee Basin is a different geological formation to the Bowen Basin, which is about 200km closer to the coast and where central Queensland's coalmining industry is located.

While Mr Palmer is Australia's fifth richest man and considerably cashed up, he has also secured the support of the government-owned Metallurgical Corporation of China as 10 per cent equity partner in the project.

But he is also seeking to raise about $2.5bn on the Hong Kong stock exchange within the next month to help finance the project.

The proposed clean-coal power station announced yesterday does not have a definite form of technology attached, and the company is still looking for a suitable location in the Galilee Basin to use as a dumping ground for the CO2 produced during the coal production process.