China First mine

QLD election: commitment to nature reserves

Sometimes they really do act like they own the entire country.

The mining industry, under billionaire magnate Clive Palmer, is trying to establish an open-cut coal mine called China First in the Bimblebox Nature Refuge – a privately-owned area of Central-West Queensland. Not only is it private land, but as the name suggests, Bimblebox is already a protected nature reserve under state and federal law. Only it turns out, the law protects Bimblebox and other areas like it from everything except mining.