Jellinbah founder revives Walton coal project
The scrapped Walton metallurgical coal project in central Queensland has been revived by new owners Magnetic South.
The Walton coal project has been revived
The company said it would restart exploration and assessment which was discontinued under the previous proponent, Walton Coal in May 2022.
Magnetic South is owned by Sam Chong, the founder of and a shareholder in the Jellinbah Group, which operates two coal mines in central Queensland: Jellinbah Mine, north-west of Dingo, and Lake Vermont, near Dysart.
Magnetic South has completed the acquisition of the Walton metallurgical coal exploration tenement, and it plans to continue detailed exploration of the area, which is located in the Bowen Basin about 100 km east of Emerald.
Magnetic South’s Brisbane-based resource development division manager James Xu said the previous proponent had estimated a resource of up to 2.2 million tonnes a year, creating a potential 100 jobs in construction and 223 jobs to support the mine’s operations.
“Magnetic South is committed to build on its executive team 60 years’ experience exploring for and operating steel-making coal assets and agribusiness in central Queensland,” Xu said.
“Our plans for development of high-quality steel-making coal have been energised by the Australian and Queensland governments’ leadership on the clean energy transition, with a major expansion of wind farms and electricity transmission lines driving demand for steel.”
A detailed re-assessment of existing data would begin before the end of the year.
