{"id":513154,"date":"2026-03-02T04:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T04:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513154\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T04:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T04:18:13","slug":"isaac-council-puts-miner-vitrinites-2-2m-unpaid-bill-on-hold-amid-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513154\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaac council puts miner Vitrinite’s $2.2m unpaid bill on hold amid collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than $2.2 million in unpaid council road-access charges have been put on hold for a fledgling Central Queensland miner facing financial collapse.<\/p>\n

Vitrinite owns the Vulcan mine near Moranbah, but the company fell into administration last month, and receivers KordaMentha are now in control of the firm.<\/p>\n

Vitrinite had planned to support 450 jobs next year as its production of steel-making coal was forecast to ramp up.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

Coal production began at the Vulcan complex in 2021.\u00a0 (ABC News: Daniel Mercer)<\/p>\n

Isaac Regional Council Mayor Kelly Vea Vea said the failure of Vitrinite had left community members feeling uncertain.<\/p>\n

The mine lacks access to the Central Queensland coal rail network and is required to pay “coal-haulage charges” to Isaac council to compensate them for the trucks carrying coal from the mine.<\/p>\n

Cr Vea Vea said she expected the unpaid coal-haulage fees would instead go to the company paying its outstanding bills to local suppliers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kelly Vea Vea says local businesses in Moranbah and Dysart rely on the miners.\u00a0 (Supplied: Isaac Regional Council)<\/p>\n

“It’s been a preference of our council for [Vitrinite] to hold off on paying out the road haulage so that they can settle some of the local businesses’ outstanding debt,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Going into receivership has had a huge impact on a lot of [suppliers]. There’s discussions among local businesses about the potential debt that people are carrying due to that company going into receivership.<\/p>\n

“It’s more important than ever that local businesses that are out there looking to give work out, that they’re looking to support those local and small to medium businesses.”<\/p>\n

The receivers and administrators of Vitrinite will host their first meeting with creditors on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

KordaMentha said in a statement it would be “business as usual” for Vitrinite in the meantime, and before “a sale and recapitalisation process” for its assets.<\/p>\n

Local clubs lose out<\/p>\n

Vitrinite contributed to a number of local community groups and clubs, including the Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation, Moranbah State School and the Dysart Bulls Senior Rugby League.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation was among the organisations Vitrinite supported.\u00a0 (ABC Tropical North: Liam O’Connell)<\/p>\n

Bulls president Hayden Reid said the miner’s sponsorship in 2023 and 2024 had made a difference to the club.<\/p>\n

“We had guard-rail fencing and decking upgrades that [the money] went to,” he said.<\/p>\n

But he said the club was left hanging after it was unable to field a men’s side in 2025, when Vitrinite’s promised funding did not come through.<\/p>\n

Mr Reid said he was never given a reason why.<\/p>\n

\"Men<\/p>\n

Hayden Reid (top, second from left) says Vitrinite sponsored the side for two seasons.\u00a0 (Supplied: Dysart Bulls)<\/p>\n

“We sent the invoice off after it was agreed to, and it was never paid,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When they were chased up, they never had a response.”<\/p>\n

Mr Reid said the lack of home games and the loss of sponsorship hurt the club last year but the Bulls were resilient.<\/p>\n

He said it had since attracted several small local businesses as sponsors.<\/p>\n

“It looks like we’re going to have two decent sides, and we’re pretty keen,” he said.<\/p>\n

Campaign against progressive royalties continues<\/p>\n

Queensland Resources Council (QRC) CEO Janette Hewson heads the Queensland Resources Council, which lobbies on behalf of the state’s mining industry.<\/p>\n

She said it was always disappointing when companies collapsed.<\/p>\n

Koala habitat cleared without federal approval<\/a><\/p>\n

A coal mining group with former links to a US fraudster denies claims of illegal mining, and destroying koala habitat without federal approval. Environment groups are doubling down, and want immediate action.<\/p>\n

“We know that conditions are really tough in the coal industry and we know that [people] in the Mackay and Central Queensland regions are feeling that as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts go out with the people affected firstly, but also about the potential flow- on impacts from this decision.”<\/p>\n

The QRC has campaigned against the royalty scheme since its introduction, and several coal companies cited royalties and current conditions as reasons for recent job cuts and closures.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Mining and Energy Union said was in contact with members and was assisting them through the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than $2.2 million in unpaid council road-access charges have been put on hold for a fledgling Central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,256795,182027,92092,256792,101158,227720,37161,29958,256793,256791,256794],"class_list":["post-513154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-coal-haulage-fees","tag-cor-cordis","tag-dysart","tag-dysart-bulls-rugby-league","tag-isaac-regional-council","tag-kelly-vea-vea","tag-kordamentha","tag-queensland-resources-council","tag-receivership","tag-vitrinite","tag-vulcan-mine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}