The conference that kick-starts the Queensland Resources Expo (QREX) in Rockhampton in May will be a chance for the public to hear the true facts about the resource sector's effect on the environment and on the sustainability of the industry. And it will be in plain English.

That is according to the QREX website at: http://www.qrex.com.au/ .

CQU is a co-presenter of QREX along with Rockhampton City Council, the Queensland Resources Council and Rockhampton Tourist & Business Information.

CQU is a co-presenter of QREX

With energy production at the forefront of the climate change debate, a major conference ‘Resourcing for the Future' is bringing together leading industry players to brainstorm the latest developments in building a sustainable future for the resources sector.

According to the QREX website, emphasis is being placed on interactive panel sessions to ensure as many issues and potential solutions as possible are discussed at the conference.

The QREX conference: Resourcing for the Future at Rockhampton on May 23 will include representatives from local and federal governments, the mining industry, electricty generators, transport operators, and expert commentators.

The one-day analysis and discussion of the resources sector's outlook and implications for regional, state and national economies will specifically address the global carbon challenge and new electricity generation technology under development in Central Queensland.

The session devoted to the 'carbon challenge' will be lead by Dr Kelly Thambimuthu, chairman of the International Energy Agency's Greenhouse Gas R&D Program and Chief Executive of the Centre of Low Emission Technology.

His global overview will be complemented by presentations on greenhouse gas reduction programs by the Queensland Government's ZeroGen project, Callide Power Station's Oxyfuel project and Rio Tinto Aluminum's carbon trading program involving landholders in Western Queensland.

Chief Executive of BHP-Biliton-Mitsubishi Alliance Coal (BMA), Mr John Smith, Queensland Rail's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Stephen Cantwell and the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Mines and Energy, Mr Alan Millis will also address the conference.

Further discussions will be lead by Central Queensland University, a leading international institution on sustainable development, with contributions from Professor Elizabeth Taylor, Executive Dean of Sciences Engineering & Health and Professor Robert Miles, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Regional Development.

"We will have inventors, politicians, bureaucrats, consultants, internationally-acclaimed academics, environmentalists, manufacturers, suppliers, technicians, mechanics, as well as the miners and the mine owners all in one place to plan the innovative, increasingly-environmentally focused resource sector," said QREX Event Director, Rick Palmer.

"This is a rare opportunity to hear the views of so many people with their fingers on the pulse of Queensland's leading industry sector. This conference is about laying out the sector's agenda for the next five to ten years, so that the people closest to the action are given every opportunity to participate and contribute," said QRC Chief Executive Michael Roche.

"We have designed QREX as a forum at which the nation's resource issues can be examined at the highest level."

Rockhampton Mayor Cr Margaret Strelow, who chairs the QREX Management Committee, said the conference has achieved the benchmark required.