A good read discovered by Haplo...I've noticed during the...

A good read discovered by Haplo...

I've noticed during the election campain that politicians have been referring to the mining boom is over. I wish they wouldn't but more importantly, I wish they would do some research first. 

Record coal exports belie end of boom : The Australian RECORD levels of coal exports in the past few months from the three main coal ports on the east coast are challenging the claim that the mining boom is over.While thousands of people have lost jobs in the Queensland coalfields and the areas that service them, figures obtained by The Australian show coal loadings for last month at Gladstone in Queensland and Newcastle in NSW were at record levels.At the other main coal port, Dalrymple Bay, near Mackay, loadings were affected by stoppages on the railway line having been well up for the previous two months, but it is on track to have record coal loadings this month.In all three ports, the surge in loadings started in about May and has steadily increased.Gladstone put through 5.9 million tonnes of coal last month, after 5.75 million tonnes in June and 5.5 million tonnes in May, making a total of 17.15 million tonnes for the three months. In the same three months last year, only 15.32 million tonnes were loaded at Gladstone.At Dalrymple Bay, monthly loadings were running at less than 5 million tonnes for all of this year until May, when they surged to 5.6 million tonnes, then 5.65 million tonnes in June, and back to 5.1 million last month. In the first 12 days of this month, slightly more than 2.4 million tonnes of coal had been loaded: if this rate continues, six million tonnes of coal will be loaded this month.In Newcastle, a record 10.3 million tonnes of coal were loaded last month on to ships from the two main terminals, Kooragang Island and Carrington.The 83 ships loaded at the Kooragang Island terminal was the highest number recorded in a month, and the terminals loaded a combined total of 114 ships.While both states' ports were recording record tonnages, the type of coal shipped from the two is very different. More than 85 per cent of the coal shipped out of the Queensland port is coking coal, mainly used in blast furnaces to produce steel for industrial purposes. Most of the coal shipped out of Newcastle is thermal coal, mainly used in power production.Port of Gladstone Corporation chief executive Leo Zussino said the main reason for the surge was increased demand from China.Mr Zussino said it was significant that the increased volumes were covering both coking and thermal coal.Port Waratah chief executive Hennie du Plooy said the terminals' "very high throughputs in June and July" were "continuing so far this month".