Waratah Coal Will Continue To Pursue Abbot Point Terminal Plans

Waratah Coal, an Australian explorer and developer controlled by billionaire Clive Palmer, said Monday it will continue to pursue plans to develop a stand-alone jetty and coal stockyard terminal within the Abbot Point state development area in Queensland state.

The company confirmed it will push ahead with its plans after the state government Saturday withdrew its support for a A$9 billion expansion of the coal port, which would have grown the port to nine separate terminals with an overall capacity of 385 million metric tons.

"The government's scaled back approach will now provide an extra two new wharfs at Abbot Point for future Galilee and Bowen basin coal producers, for which Waratah will seek interim capacity," it said in a statement.

Other so-called preferred respondents selected to build terminals at the site included Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN), Rio Tinto PLC (RIO), Vale S.A. (VALE), a consortium of Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU), New Hope Corp. (NHC.AU) and Carabella Resources Ltd. (CLR.AU), and a local subsidiary of China's Meijin Energy Group, MacMines AustAsia.

Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto, however, recently said it would withdraw from the project.

-By Rhiannon Hoyle, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4625; [e-mail]