Protests and price drops: mining giant faces challenges
The annual meeting of one of Australia’s largest mining firms has been disrupted by protesters who accuse the company of knowingly contributing to the climate crisis.
Whitehaven Coal executives evicted activists from a meeting in Sydney on Thursday within minutes before sharing their positive forecast for metallurgical coal prices with shareholders.
The company, which bought two Queensland coal mines from BHP last year, also said it was optimistic the Queensland government would change mining royalty rates, which it deemed “punitive”.
The AGM came after Whitehaven announced it generated $5.8 billion in revenue in the 2025 financial year and produced 39.1 megatonnes of coal, including 20 million tonnes from its Queensland operations.
Protesters interrupted a presentation by Whitehaven chairman Mark Vaile less than 10 minutes into the company’s annual general meeting, with one man calling the firm “evil”.
“The climate crisis is destroying the future of my generation… and they know it,” he shouted.
The group was escorted out of the meeting by security guards before Mr. Vaile announced to the group that they had entered the meeting hall “under false pretenses” by voting by proxy.
“Let’s go ahead with a regular meeting of a legitimate Australian company paying enormous amounts of tax on which most of these people probably live off,” he said.
Despite falling coal prices in recent months and a “complex and dynamic” market, Mr Vaile said global policies were becoming clearer and the company expected metallurgical coal prices to rise in the long term.
“Greater clarity on policy implementation in China and US trade policies is supporting the recovery in coal prices and improving confidence,” he said.
“We continue to expect longer-term supply and demand dynamics to support stronger prices.”
Whitehaven managing director Paul Flynn said the price of thermal coal had also “recovered somewhat” since June and the company expected coal costs to remain between $130 and $145 a tonne next year.
Mr Flynn said Queensland’s mining royalty scheme, which comes into effect in 2022, had impacted the company and could impact future investment decisions unless the state government changed it.
“It’s a pretty punitive regime there and, of course, inflation has increased the cost base of the industry in Queensland and NSW,” he said.
“From our perspective, there is a good opportunity for change, given that this government has inherited the position of seeking to encourage greater investment in the coal mining sector.”
The company also announced after announcing its 2025 results that it had received an environmental complaint about dust at its Maules Creek mine in NSW, and Mr Flynn said he would consider whether to appeal the fine.
Whitehaven also faces court proceedings over three environmental complaints filed in fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
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