Australia's Queensland state government will extend the life of the state-owned Meandu thermal coal mine into the 2040s, further rolling back the previous Labor administration's pledge to phase out coal in state-owned utilities by 2035.
The approval will extend the life of the 7.6mn t/yr Meandu thermal coal mine by 21 years and unlock up to 200mn t of thermal coal to power the state, the government said today. The mine's lease was due to expire in 2023, and the extension will see it extended to 2044, Argus understands.
The previous Labor administration pledged in 2022 to end state-owned utilities' reliance on burning coal by 2035 and operate state-owned coal-fired power plants as clean energy hubs from 2027. Under this plan, all coal-fired power generation capacity in the state was expected to close by the 2037-38 fiscal year.
The current Liberal National (LNP) government reversed this policy after it was elected in October 2024, instead committing to keep some of its state-owned coal-fired power plants operating until the late-2030s and mid-2040s, according to its five-year energy roadmap released in October 2025.
Meandu is owned by the Queensland state government through its wholly-owned energy corporation, Stanwell, and supplies Queensland's 1,843MW Tarong coal-fired power stations exclusively. These power stations provide approximately 20pc of the state's energy needs, the government said.
Coal currently supplies more than 60pc of Queensland's energy consumption and will continue to play a key role in the state's energy mix for decades, state minister for natural resources and mines Dale Last said on 9 June.
The LNP abolished the state's renewable energy targets of 50pc by 2030, 70pc by 2032 and 80pc by 2035 in December 2025 under its Energy Roadmap Amendment Act 2025.
