The Age talks about the looming slowdown.
There are growing signs the investment peak will be smaller, and occur sooner, than expected.
The $6 billion Oakajee port and rail project in Western Australia was put on ice this month, and claims of cost blowouts are dogging the country’s largest resource development, Chevron’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas project.
Aside from the boom’s long-term legacy, these cracks in the investment pipeline raise a more immediate concern: what will fill the gap after mining investment peaks some time next year?
Australia will export more natural resources as projects are completed but the value of those exports will be a fraction of the the dollar-value of the investments. It is inevitable that AUD begins to fall in 2013.
