JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – More than 2 000 Anglo American coal jobs would be lost through premature mine closure should the Australian government go ahead with its carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS), Anglo CEO Cynthia Carroll has warned.

Carroll told a mining club in Brisbane that the CPRS would also put Australian coal mines at a major competitive disadvantage.

Coming out fighting against Australia's proposed system of emissions trading for anthropogenic greenhouse gases, Carroll said: "I fear that, as it stands, the scheme does not take proper account of the reality of the technological challenge we face in finding commercial solutions."

Observers said that they expected the CPRS to be introduced in Australia in 2010, as part of the country's climate-change initiatives.

Carroll said that the scheme risked having the perverse effect of undermining the objective of reducing global warming and averting the threat of dangerous climate change.

She said that, unlike in other countries, coal mine fugitive emissions had been included in Australia's CPRS.

As Anglo's investment in waste-coal power stations had demonstrated, the company was focused on reducing emissions.

But the technology for abating the low concentration ventilation air methane that comprised the bulk of the company's fugitive emissions was in its infancy, and there was no known technology capable of abating fugitive emissions from most opencut Australian coal mines.

In the absence of available technology, the Australian coal industry would be paying a "massive" tax on emissions.

She estimated that the total CPRS bill for the Australian coal industry would be A$14-billion in the first ten years of the scheme, including A$118-million yearly for Anglo's operations there - "money that is urgently needed for investment in abatement activity".

"So Australia's coal mines would not only be at a major competitive disadvantage, but the CPRS could also lead to a larger carbon footprint from the industry.

"And it would impact on jobs as well. We risk premature closure by ten years of two major mines and job losses of more than 2 000 people - not to mention royalties of more than A$1-billion lost to the Australian government," Carroll warned.

It seemed virtually certain that the CPRS legislation would be reintroduced to Parliament later this year, and highly likely that it would be passed, said a political commentator.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.