Blair Athol Coal Mine Relief for Clermont Community

Makes me happy that the town of Clermont are going to reap rewards from TER acquisition and opening of this coal mine....



BLAIR Athol coal mine's planned re-opening next month has come as a relief to the Clermont community, given some were "disappointed" by the work Adani's Carmichael project is expected to offer.

This week the State Government gave formal indicative approval for the Blair Athol mining lease to be transferred from Rio Tinto to Orion Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of TerraCom.

This could see the mine re-open next month and generate up to150 jobs and a further 450 indirect jobs.

Clermont resident Ken Murray said this was "very pleasing", particularly as he did not think the Adani project would deliver a large number of jobs to the region.

This was partly because it is more than 100km from the project and, while the State Government is in the process of forcing mining companies to offer jobs to workers from nearby communities, they will only be forced to look within 100km, at this stage.

"We were looking for more from Adani and were disappointed," Mr Murray said. "They (the state government) should have made the radius so Clermont was included, and Moranbah."

However, Clermont has been named among the "operational services hubs" for the project.

Given Clermont has a population of 2177, according to the 2011 Census, the 600 jobs expected to follow the Blair Athol project re-opening could result in an influx of workers to town.

TerraCom company chairman Cameron McRae said it planned to buy to 39 houses owned by the Blair Athol joint venture, to house up to 80 workers. But he did not say whether or not this would force residents of those homes to move.

John Wilkinson, of Clermont-based real estate agency Hoch and Wilkinson, believes while most of those 39 houses are vacant, the odd one is occupied. But he said it was unlikely all the homes would be needed immediately, giving proplr ample time to move.

If TerraCom did buy all the houses, he said, the number of Clermont properties on the market would drop from 90 to about 70, as not all the 39 homes were listed.

Mr Wilkinson's colleague property manager Chris Sypher pointed out the town also had 27 rental properties available.

"We are ready and waiting," Ms Sypher said.

"It would make the town buzz again, and bring it back to what it was."

The Clermont residents are confident that, despite the town's size, the company would fill the 600 jobs easily. Mr Murray believes workers may prefer Blair Athol, the state's oldest open cut coal mine, because of it's history.

https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/plan-to-open-mine-good-news-after-adani-disappoint/3146876/