Resumen de Projects in the Pipeline: Australia -- a sleeping giant?
Belgium's Sibelco Group has a large-scale silica sand mining operation on North Stradbroke Island off the coast of Queensland, and Australia Minerals and Mining Group Ltd (AMMG) is exploring for mineral sands and kaolin in Western Australia's Perth Basin.
Sibelco has launched a Supreme Court challenge to the prosecution, and said that it is "committed to long-term sustainable operations on North Stradbroke Island," a stance which is backed by Queensland's Premier, Campbell Newman, who has pledged to allow mining on the island to continue until 2027.
"Usually, only one spouse [who is employed on the mining project] can work," [John Clout] explained, "and the educational services for mine-workers' children, if there are any, tend to be elementary at best."
