Coalmine reopens despite previous owners saying royalties made it unprofitable

A Queensland mining company has employed 275 workers and reopened a Bowen Basin coalmine that went into receivership in 2025.

Argo Resources Queensland purchased the New Burton Mine near Moranbah, about 120 kilometres south-west of Mackay, from Bowen Coking Coal in June.

It is the fourth mine Argo has a controlling interest in after acquiring a 70 per cent stake in Bowen Basin mines Broadlea, Carborough Downs and Ironbark in March for an undisclosed sum.

Premier David Crisafulli reopened the mine today, saying coal mining had a "bullish future".

"People need to know that the future of mining in Queensland is secure," Mr Crisafulli said.

"But also, the future of coal mining in Queensland, and I'm talking about both thermal and met [metallurgical] coal, there's a future for both."

He said the Queensland government had not contributed to the mine with financial incentives or delayed royalty payments.

Royalties no barrier

Argo CEO Richard Livingstone-Blevins said royalties were not a deterrent to acquiring coalmines.

"At the end of the day, we invested in the state based on the current royalty regime that's in place," he said.

Mr Livingstone-Blevins declined to comment on why the previous mine owners were not profitable.

"We've got great infrastructure, we've got great people, we've got coal on the ground at economic strip ratios, and we've got a lot of ground that we can open up, moving forward," he said.

"We all run vastly different businesses with vastly different cost profiles and different assets that have different operating costs."

Mr Livingstone-Blevins said Argo planned to mine 10 million tonnes of saleable coal by 2028.

"We have two prep plant hubs, we've got two rail loops, we're serviced by our own haul road, we've got our own camp, we've got four mines along the strike, and we've got over 4 billion tonnes of resource in the ground, which we seek to develop as we push forward," he said.