Simple economics rule smalltown fears | MAARS News

By Amos Aikman/theaustralian.com.au

ACROSS the little mining town of Singleton in the NSW Hunter Valley, workers, businesses and families are bracing for Julia Gillard?s widely unpopular carbon tax.

photo: theaustralian.com.au

It?s not that people are careless towards the environment or reject the theory of man-made climate change: it?s simple economics.

In a community where half the population depends directly or otherwise on coalmines, people are fearful of losing their jobs.

For Glen Lewis, managing director of newly formed mining company Nucoal, the million-dollar question is how will the carbon tax affect the country?s competitiveness on the international stage. ?Australia has always been fairly competitive on the global cost curve,? Mr Lewis said.

?But Australia will move down that curve, and eventually the ones at the end fall off.?

Mr Lewis hails from a fourth-generation coalmining family. He worked his way up to a senior role with global mining giant Xstrata. Now, as head of Nucoal, he plans to develop three sites in the Singleton area. If successful, the business will employ 300 people and last several decades. ?On royalties alone it will return $1.8 billion to the NSW government,? he said.

Like most mines, Nucoal depends on consultants and contractors, many of whom live locally. Adam Howarth, manager of Howarth Drilling, is contracted by Nucoal to sink exploration wells.

?Almost all of our contracts come from the mining industry, so anything that hurts them hurts us as well,? Mr Howarth said.

Another Nucoal contractor is Nigel Korff, whose business K-Far Rural Services maintains land for working and prospective mine sites. Mr Korff said his business had invested heavily in specialised equipment and training in order to win mine contracts ? money that could not be recouped elsewhere.

Mr Lewis criticised the Greens? argument mining profits often go offshore. ?We?ve got 3500 shareholders, and 97 per cent are Australia-based.? A carbon price of $20 to $30 per tonne, Mr Lewis says, would add about $2 to $3 to the cost per tonne of coal production, eating roughly 10 per cent of profits at current levels.

Viewed: 11

Source: http://news.maars.net/blog/2011/07/09/simple-economics-rule-smalltown-fears/

sega nbc sports monet banksy naomi watts king kong pineapple upside down cake