As the new BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Asset President, Adam Lancey is focusing on steel and how a better world can be built from Queensland.

“The world will need almost twice as much steel in the next 30 years as it did in the past 30,” says Adam.

“And Queensland has the world’s best metallurgical coal which will be vital in producing high quality steel.

“Population growth, urbanisation, the infrastructure of decarbonisation and rising living standards are expected to keep driving demand for steel.”

BMA is a leading global producer of higher-quality metallurgical coals, which enable steelmakers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions intensity through increased productivity of their blast furnaces.

“The high quality metallurgical coal we have is a key ingredient our world needs to keep growing,” says Adam.

“We are helping build a better world from Queensland through the metallurgical coal we mine.”

Along with serving as BMA Asset President, Adam is also President of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) Board.

Adam came to BMA from New South Wales, where he was NSW Energy Coal Vice President and prior to that General Manager of BHP’s Mt Arthur Coal mine.

As BMA Asset President, Adam is responsible for the safe operations of the company’s seven mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, along with rail infrastructure, Moranbah Airport and the Hay Point Coal Terminal in Mackay. Since starting in November last year, he and has been prioritising spending time in the Bown Basin at BMA’s operations.

“I’m enjoying getting around to our operations and meeting our workforce, I’ve been taking the opportunity to listen and learn,” he says.

“I’m passionate about the work we do and take a huge amount of pride in being part of an industry that contributes so much to our economy and local communities, which is why I’m excited to be part of the BMA team.”

 It was a challenging start to the year for Adam and the team, with the tragic death of Luke O’Brien at BMA’s Saraji mine.

“A tragedy like this hits hard for family, friends, colleagues and the community and will be felt for a very long time,” says Adam.

While safety has always been their first priority, Adam says Luke’s death has seen a safety reset.

“Safety is the number one priority for me, it must be. Without safety, nothing else really matters. We need to make sure that people feel safe in the workplace and are empowered to take action if something’s unsafe.

“I always refer to safety as the marathon that never ends. So, we’ll always be working to improve safety.

“I want to see safety performance improve collectively as an industry, but also within BMA.

“That’ll come down to everyone making sure that they take action if things are unsafe, calling out hazards and just taking that extra little bit of time to make sure that things are safe in what they’re about to undertake.”

 Adam says BMA has a bright long-term future and their customer base is growing. However, there are headwinds BMA and the industry is facing.

“We’ve seen inflationary pressures; unpredictable weather events and we’ve also had the Queensland Government increase coal royalties to the highest maximum rate in the world.”

Adam says the industry needs certainty and stability, and encourages government to work with industry to make Queensland competitive again.

“We want to be able to work with governments and not have unforeseen surprises that give us those sorts of headwinds.”

Adam says he is enjoying the transition to Queensland and the number one question he keeps getting asked is if he’s going to barrack for the Maroons.

“Everyone wants me to, but there’s no way I could do that,” he says. “I’ll be sticking with the Blues and will just have to deal copping it from everyone.”