Category Archives: Mining

Resources sector investment hasn’t peaked yet in Qld – we now lead Australia in construction

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Unlike the rest of Australia, construction activity increased in Queensland in the March quarter. This was due to heavy, so-called engineering construction, no doubt resources sector-related, as residential and non-residential building activity (i.e. houses, flats, office buildings, shopping centres, etc) continues … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Resources sector investment has peaked, but likely to remain strong for a few years yet

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The Australian Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics released its latest review of Resources and Energy Projects today (see Committed investment in resources and energy major projects at peak). It shows that although resources sector capital expenditure has peaked, it should … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Surat Basin FIFO/DIDO workers to peak this year

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Queensland Treasury released its non-resident population projections for the Surat Basin today. They show that fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) and drive-in, drive-out (DIDO) worker numbers will peak this year at around 8,600 and decline over the next few years as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More signs of slowing growth in resources sector – bad news for Qld budget

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Queensland Treasury already made a big downward revision of $1.4 billion over four years in mining royalties in the 2012-13 Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Review last December, and it may need to shave some more off given the bad news … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Housing, Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Barcaldine set to boom with big increase in FIFO workers

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Queensland Treasury’s non-resident population projections for the Bowen and Galilee Basins show Barcaldine in Central Queensland is the next regional town that will boom due to an influx of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) and drive-in, drive-out (DIDO) workers (see chart below … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining, Population | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Six of the ten high growth mining towns in Queensland

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The ABS published an excellent Australian Social Trends piece on Towns of the Mining Boom yesterday, noting the impact of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers. Six of the ten high growth mining towns reported by the ABS are in Queensland (see … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Major projects construction activity still strong, but appears to be peaking

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Gene Tunny

RBA Governor Glenn Stevens, who incidentally was re-appointed for another three years today, has recently observed that the mining construction boom would peak in the near future. The latest ABS data on engineering construction activity appear to confirm this view, … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Qld struck by Dutch Disease – manufacturing employment has plunged in last few years

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The so-called Dutch Disease of a booming resources sector and a contracting manufacturing sector has been very evident in Queensland over the last few years, as seen in the chart below based on the latest vintage of ABS quarterly labour … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Coal Seam Guar – the most important agricultural product you may never have heard of

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Gene Tunny

I’m currently in Canberra attending the ABARES 2013 Outlook Conference and I must say I’m very impressed by the organisation of the conference and the program. The highlight of the first day for me was the presentation by Tony Matchett … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

RBA confirms QRC analysis – resources sector spends mega bucks domestically

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The RBA has released an excellent though technically demanding research paper on Industry Dimensions of the Resources Boom, which has received coverage in today’s Australian (Mining spreads work to 500,000). The RBA analysis confirms the analysis conducted by Reuben Lawrence … Continue reading →

Posted in Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment