Steam rises from the stacks of the coal-fired Jim Bridger Power Plant outside Point of the Rocks, Wyoming in this file photo taken March 14, 2014. The U.S. power sector must cut carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, according to fe
Steam rises from the stacks of the coal-fired Jim Bridger Power Plant outside Point of the Rocks, Wyoming in this file photo taken March 14, 2014. Reuters/Jim Urquhart/Files

Despite the low price of coal in the international market, mining giant BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) pushed through on Monday with the opening of its $3.4-billion Caval Ridge coal mine in Bowen Basin, Queensland.

The mine, part of the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, was opened ahead of schedule and created 500 new jobs.

"We are confident that if we maintain our productivity focus then we will continue to have a globally competitive business that will provide employment opportunities for generations to come," BHP Coal President Dean Dalla Valle said, quoted by The Australian.

If the number of applicants - at over 30,000 people - is an indicator and there are only 950 positions at Caval Ridge and sister mine Daunia, unemployment across Australia's mining sector appears to be headed for harder days.

While coal is under fire for contributing to pollution, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who spearheaded the repeal of the carbon tax, said at the opening of the mine on Monday, "Let's have no demonization of coal."

The PM insisted, "Coal is good for humanity, coal is good for prosperity, coal is an essential part of our economic future, here in Australia, and right around the world," quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Caval Ridge is expected to produce yearly 5.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal for the steel industry and used the latest technology to make it as one of the most productive, sustainable and highly performing metallurgical mines in the world, Dalla Valle said.

Mr Abbott added that "Coal is essential to the prosperity of the world. Energy is what sustains our prosperity, and coal is the world's principal energy source and it will be for many decades to come."

His praise for coal, a major source of Australia's export income, comes at a time that China has slapped a duty on imported coal and top global climate official Christiana Figueres urged nations to leave coal in the ground to avert the worsening global warming.

Climate Institute Chief Executive John Connor criticised Mr Abbott for placing all of Australia's chips on coal, while Opposition leader Bill Shorten pointed out the irony of Australia hosting the G20 meeting where most participants come from countries dealing with climate change, while the Land Down Under is "the climate sceptics capital of the world."

YouTube/Massachusetts School of Law