The Australian Government must reject BMA’s Peak Downs coal mine extension, protect First Nation communities and defend the Pacific.
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) is planning Australia’s biggest and longest-running coal mine. BMA wants to mine coal at its Peak Downs coal mine for another 93 years. BMA’s extension plans threaten the safety and survival of Pacific island nations, devastate First Nations cultural history in the Bowen Basin, and undermine Australia’s role as a “climate leader” in the Pacific family.
Australia cannot call itself a Pacific partner while approving coal projects designed to run until 2119, nearly 70 years past the net zero deadline.
Sign the petition
Go Away BMA!
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) is planning Australia's biggest and longest-running coal mine. BMA wants to mine coal at its Peak Downs coal mine for another 93 years. BMA’s extension plans threaten the safety and survival of Pacific island nations, devastate First Nations cultural history in the Bowen Basin, and undermine Australia’s role in the Pacific family.
Australia cannot call itself a Pacific partner while approving coal projects designed to run until 2119, nearly 70 years past the net zero deadline.
The 350 Pacific Climate Warriors are calling on the Australian Government to:
- Phase out fossil fuels (domestic and exported) in line with the 1.5 degree target
- Transition towards affordable renewable energy for all in a just, orderly and equitable way
- Eliminate subsidies and shift the money to those most in need
- Hold big polluters accountable
Tell the Australian Government to Stop Approving More Coal, Oil and Gas Projects
To Minister Chris Bowen and Minister Murray Watt,
Australia cannot call itself a Pacific partner while approving coal mines designed to run for decades, past the world's promised net-zero deadline.
Every tonne of coal mined and exported from Australia tightens the noose around our necks. BMA’s extension plans would see coal mines operating longer than some Pacific island countries are predicted to stay above water.
Not only are BMA’s coal mines inconsistent with Australia’s binding legal duty under international law to limit global warming to 1.5°, they undermine Australia’s role as President of the COP31 Negotiations and ally to the Pacific. As members of the Pacific Island Forum, signatories to the Boe Declaration and part of the Pacific family, you have the responsibility to uphold the commitments made to the safety and survival of this region.
In your own backyard, BMA’s continuation proposal would further devastate the Bowen Basin – a region home to thousands of years of First Nations cultural history.
Instead of propping up a dying industry, you have the opportunity to lead Australia and the Pacific into a future free from fossil fuel addiction, where your title of “climate leader” is earned and deserved, and where Pacific and First Nations peoples are guaranteed a safe and livable future with access to their land, sea and sky.
The 350 Pacific Climate Warriors are calling on the Australian government to:
- Phase out fossil fuels (domestic and exported) in line with the 1.5 degree target
- Announce a national roadmap for a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels ahead of COP31, including fossil fuel exports and timed pathways to move off all fossil fuels and, in particular, ambitious and equitable coal phase-out dates.
- Reject any further coal and gas developments, extensions or continuations.
- Transition towards affordable renewable energy for all in a just, orderly and equitable way
- Scale up investments in renewables, grids, and storage, and expand affordable energy access
- Protect low-income households from rising costs, and enable workers and communities to shape the transition.
- Establish guardrails to prevent unsafe, extractive or exploitative practices and materials in the renewable energy transition.
- Eliminate subsidies and shift the money to those most in need
- Immediately remove existing fossil fuel subsidies and implement an intentional price on carbon to reflect the true environmental and health costs of fossil fuels
- Redirect these subsidy funds and carbon tax earnings to renewable energy development in the region.
- Hold big polluters accountable
- Require coal and gas corporations to pay reparations for climate loss and damage faced by frontline communities.
- Require coal and gas corporations to fund the local rehabilitation of extraction sites and First Nations communities
FRONTLINE
TRUTHS TOUR
Pacific and First Nations peoples unite to end BMA’s coal expansion.
The Pacific Climate Warriors travelled to the Bowen Basin to witness the impacts of coal extraction firsthand. Standing on the edges of enormous coal pits, they:
- Listened to stories from local communities, farmers and Traditional Owners living with the daily reality of coal mining
- Heard about polluted water, damaged country and disappearing wildlife
- Joined ceremony and shared Pacific culture and storytelling as acts of resistance and solidarity
The fossil fuel industry has shaped political systems and strengthened influence over key national and international decisions. This power has caused generational harm to Indigenous communities, eroding Indigenous rights and weakening protections for land and seas.
This journey was about learning from First Nations land defenders, bearing witness to fossil fuel destruction and making a clear commitment: from the point of extraction to point of impact, we remain united to end BMA’s coal expansion and the runaway climate crisis.
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Mine: Peak Downs Mine
Ownership: BMA – BHP (50%) and Mitsubishi (50%)
The Peak Downs Mine Continuation Project is an expansion of open-cut mining operations at the Peak Downs Mine, designed to produce up to 18 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of coal over an estimated 93-year mine life. The Project will support the extraction of approximately 1,256 Mt of run-of-mine (ROM) coal, roughly 98% of which is metallurgical coal.
BHP MITSUBISHI ALLIANCE OPERATIONS
Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) is Australia’s largest producer and exporter of coal. Established as a 50:50 joint venture between BHP and Mitsubishi Development in 2001, BMA operates five major open-cut and underground mining complexes across Central Queensland’s Bowen Basin, alongside a dedicated export shipping terminal near Mackay.
- Goonyella Riverside Mine: Located approximately 30 km north of Moranbah; a large open-cut steelmaking coal operation.
- Broadmeadow Mine: Co-located with Goonyella Riverside near Moranbah; an underground punch-longwall mining operation.
- Caval Ridge Mine: Situated directly south of Moranbah; an open-cut dragline and truck/shovel mine.
- Peak Downs Mine: Located approximately 30 km south of Moranbah; one of Australia’s oldest and largest open-cut coal operations.
- Saraji Mine: Located roughly 25 km north of Dysart and 60 km south of Moranbah; a high-capacity open-cut mine.
Export Port & Logistics
- Hay Point Coal Terminal: Located at Hay Point, approximately 38 km south of Mackay on the Central Queensland coast. It serves as BMA’s primary port facility for loading steelmaking coal onto export ships.
- Moranbah Airport: A private corporate aviation facility serving BMA fly-in fly-out (FIFO) operations near the town of Moranbah.
