This year’s Queensland Mining & Engineering Exhibition (QME), to be held in Mackay from July 24-26, comes as the Central Queensland coal industry gears up for even more growth in the years to come. According to Paul Baker, exhibition director with QME organiser Reed Mining Events, a recent report from the federal government’s Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics (BREE), Mining Industry Major Projects-April 2012, shows that the industry’s boom conditions have a long way to run. “The BREE report outlines how, in addition to three coal mining projects completed in the Bowen Basin in the past six months, adding 8.3 Mt of production capacity, a further 11 Queensland coal projects are in advanced stages of development and are expected to be completed in the next two to three years,” he said. See IM’s World Coal report in the August 2012 issue. (more…)