A 60 billion US dollar coal deal with China was signed by Australian miner Resourcehouse on Saturday. The deal was described as country's "biggest-ever export contract."

It was specified by Resourcehouse Chairman Clive Palmer that a 20-year agreement was negotiated by the company, to provide China Power International Development (CPI) with 30 million tonnes of coal per year from a proposed mine in central Queensland.

In a statement, Palmer said, "This deal with CPI is Australia's biggest ever export contract."

Palmer is Australia's fifth-richest man and has awarded the engineering and construction management contract for the thermal coal mine, dubbed "China First" to Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC).

A six billion dollar loan was financed by the The Export-Import Bank of China. But Palmer specified that the project was 100 percent Australian-owned.

He added, "This is Australia's largest single, non-syndicated, finance deal and the interest from China highlights the strength of the project and the benefits for Queensland and Australia in developing a new world-class coal region."