Two adjacent coking coal mines in the Bowen Basin could be up and running before the end of the year, according to a presentation given to the Central Highlands Development Corporation.
Futura Resources has applied for two 10-year mining leases to operate the Wilton and Fairhill coal mines, about 45 kilometres north east of Emerald, documents lodged with the Department of Natural Resources and Mines show.
In a presentation to the CHDC's Economic Futures Forum earlier this month, mine operator Sojitz Coal said it was expected the mining leases would be approved by mid-2019.
The Wilton mine could be running by September and the Fairhill mine could be online by November, creating 90 jobs by the end of the year, the presentation said.
Applications for the leases were lodged in January last year and publicly notified by the state government's Coal Assessment Hub on Tuesday.
Any objections to the granting of the mining leases must be lodged before May 17.
The combined projects contain 2.6 billion tonnes of coal, according to owner Futura Resources.
"The Wilton and Fairhill projects are located in the central region of the Bowen Basin surrounded by prominent operational coal mines such as Ensham, Gregory-Crinum, Kestrel and Oaky Creek," read Futura's website.
The mines will run as open-cut "truck and shovel" operations.