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July 1
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Posted by Steve Smyth

Welcome, but watch out for Xstrata

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Visitors to two of our central Queensland mining towns will be greeted by new ‘Xstrata Community Hazard’ billboards.

Xstrata operates Oaky Creek and Newlands mines. Residents of the towns that service those mines – Tieri and Glenden – have seen Xstrata’s bullying behaviour first-hand, whether on the job or in the communities.

Warning signsWarning signsMineworkers face a continual battle over conditions, while it’s become much harder for families to live in towns like Tieri and Glenden as Xstrata takes over local businesses and replaces family housing with singlemen’s quarters.

These billboards are there to inform the broader community about Xstrata’s behaviour and to raise awareness of the issues these communities are facing.

 

4 comments on "Welcome, but watch out for Xstrata "

xstrata-sux said on Mon, 26/07/2010 - 12:31:
Nice sign boys!!!!!! Keep your eyes peeled for a similar one coming soon to Tahmoor!!
cfmeufacts said on Wed, 14/07/2010 - 00:48:
At least Xstrata Don't get there own website wrong on a "warning sign". :) Good one CFMEU.
Haz. said on Wed, 07/07/2010 - 07:36:
WHO'S RUNNING AUSTRALIA? . . . . With super-profits tax dead, miners turn their eyes to a rosier future By Andrew Burrell From: The Australian July 07, 2010 12:00AM Rio Tinto and Xstrata are to spend billions of dollars on projects they had shelved because of the super-profits tax Source: Bloomberg Mining revive plans to spend billions New operations in Queensland, WA Firms still say they're heavily taxed A WAVE of optimism is sweeping the mining sector after the axing of the resource super-profits tax. Rio Tinto and Xstrata are moving to revive plans to spend billions of dollars on projects in Western Australia and Queensland. Rio Tinto said it would restart a feasibility study into a planned $12 billion expansion of its Pilbara iron ore operations. And Xstrata announced it would resume work on its $6bn Wandoan coalmine in Queensland. The big miners, along with BHP Billiton, last week convinced the Gillard Government to abandon the RSPT in favour of the minerals resources rent tax, leading to a reduction in the effective headline rate from 40 per cent to 22.5 per cent. Soon after the RSPT proposal sent shudders through the mining sector in May, Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Sam Walsh said the company's plans to boost its Pilbara iron ore production capacity from 230 million tonnes a year to 330 million tonnes had been put on hold. But yesterday Mr Walsh revealed the plan would be re-examined in the wake of the Government's decision to introduce the more benign MRRT. "We're in the process of re-opening studies in relation to our Pilbara expansions," he said. "With the certainty that we've now got with the (MRRT), we are reconfiguring those numbers and the impact back into our projects." Mr Walsh said the MRRT, to be introduced in July 2012, would still make Australia one of the most heavily taxed mining regimes in the world but he suggested he could live with the prospect of higher taxes. "We needed to resolve this subject to get on with life," he said. Xstrata said yesterday it would restart $186 million worth of Queensland investments that it suspended after the announcement of the RSPT. The investments in early works and exploration are a crucial part of the company's planned $6bn Wandoan coal project in central Queensland, with final approvals expected next year. Xstrata's move to restart its coal projects in Queensland came after the Swiss-based miner last week also reversed a decision to cancel an expansion of its Ernest Henry copper mine. "Today's decision effectively lifts the suspension on expenditure announced by Xstrata last month," the company said yesterday. Read more on this story at The Australian.
Haz. said on Fri, 02/07/2010 - 15:49:
What can a man say after this? Xstrata reinstates suspended mine works on revised mining tax From: AAP July 02, 2010 11:16AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these? MINING giant Xstrata says it will resume a key project that it suspended after the announcement of the resources super profits tax. Xstrata said the decision to resume the Ernest Henry mine expansion in Queensland followed the revised resources tax regime announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday. The Anglo-Swiss miner previously had said it would suspend $400 million in works to expand the Ernest Henry copper mine. Xstrata also suspended $186 million worth of work including the planned expansion of its Wandoan thermal coal project in Queensland, and an exploration program around Cloncurry and Mt Isa. Xstrata said, however, that full activities would resume at the Ernest Henry expansion, and the exploration spending would be reinstated. The move came after Ms Gillard announced a breakthrough in talks with miners over the controversial resources super profits tax, which includes a decision that the new tax regime on miners would apply only to iron ore and coal. Xstrata is yet to announce its plans for the Wandoan coal project. Xstrata Copper chief executive Charlie Sartain said the decision to retain existing taxation and royalty structures for copper had given the company ``sufficient confidence to recommence with immediate effect these significant projects that form an important part of our business strategy in north west Queensland. "Our copper operations in north Queensland play a vital role as an economic driver in the region," Mr Sartain said in a statement.