By Avinash Govind

June 2, 2025 - Environmental group the Queensland Conservation Council has filed an objection to Australian producer Jellinbah's proposed expansion of its 9mn t/yr Lake Vermont coking coal mine, the group announced today.

Queensland's Land Court has not scheduled a hearing on the Queensland Conservation Council's objection, the group told Argus.

Jellinbah wants to maintain Lake Vermont's production at 9mn t/yr of hard coking coal and pulverised coal injection (PCI) combined from 2028–48, before closing the mine in 2061, it said last year in an environmental impact assessment.

The company is currently scheduled to cut production at Lake Vermont — which it runs in partnership with Japanese firms Marubeni and Sojitz and North American investment firm AMCI — to 4mn t/yr in 2028, and to then wind down production over 33 years up to its closure in 2061.

Jellinbah wants to maintain production at Lake Vermont up to 2048 by developing an underground pit that would support existing open-cut mining operations, the company said in 2024. It will produce an additional 122mn t of run-of-mine coal over the life of Lake Vermont.

An expansion at Lake Vermont would drive up Queensland's carbon emissions. The mine's scope 1 emissions — direct emissions from the mine's operations — are expected to rise by 305,210 t/yr of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) over the life of the project, while its scope 2 emissions — from electricity purchases — are expected to grow by 43,260 t/yr CO2e over the same timeframe, Jellinbah said last year.

Lake Vermont is covered by the Australian safeguard mechanism — a national government policy for reducing industrial emissions. The mine reported 289,068t of CO2e of scope 1 emissions over the 2023-24 financial year (July-June), which was less than its 308,609t of CO2e baseline. This meant the facility earned 19,541 tradeable safeguard mechanism credits.

UK-South African coal producer Anglo American owned a 33pc stake in Jellinbah until January this year, when it sold its shares to Australian investment firm Zashvin for A$1.6bn ($1bn).