Hail Creek coal mine

Hail Creek Coal Mine
Location
Hail Creek Coal Mine
Location in Queensland
Location Hail Creek
Queensland
Country Australia
Coordinates 21°29′27″S 148°21′51″E / 21.49083°S 148.36417°E / -21.49083; 148.36417Coordinates: 21°29′27″S 148°21′51″E / 21.49083°S 148.36417°E / -21.49083; 148.36417
Production
Products Coking coal
History
Opened 2003
Owner
Company Queensland Coal and joint venture partners

The Hail Creek Coal Mine is a coal mine located within the Bowen Basin at Hail Creek in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 970 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 5.5 million tonnes of coal.[1] In 2011, seven million tonnes of coal were produced.[2] The mine is operated by Rio Tinto Coal Australia and owned by Queensland Coal, Nippon Steel Australia, Marubeni Coal and Sumisho Coal Development.[2]

Resources at the site were originally discovered in 1968.[3] Construction of the Hail Creek mine began in 2001.[3] Production at the open-cut mine began in 2003.[4] Extraction is done by the dragline, truck and shovel method.[4] Two seams are mined. These are the Elphinstone Seam, average thickness of 6.4 metres and Hynds Seam, averaging 8.3 metres in thickness.[2] Operators of the mine are planning for future development of the site to include open-cut mining to the north and east of existing operations as well as underground mining.[4] Coal is exported via the Goonyella railway line.

In early 2011, production was halted ahead of Cyclone Yasi.[5] As a result of severe monsoon rain force majeure was declared and not lifted at Hail Creek until May 2011.[6]

In February 2013, the operators of the mine were fined $2,200 for a breach of environmental guidelines when it released water from the mine.[7] The relatively low penalty was criticised as a slap on the wrist.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bowen Basin coal mines". bowenbasin.com. 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  2. 1 2 3 "Hail Creek Mine (QLD)". Rio Tinto. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Rio Tinto Coal Australia". Rio Tinto. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "Hail Creek Transition fact sheet" (PDF). Rio Tinto. March 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "North Qld industry shuts ahead of cyclone". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  6. ↑ "Rio Tinto lifts force majeure on Australia Hail Creek coking coal mine". Platts. McGraw Hill Financial. 13 May 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Rio fined for mine water". North Queensland Register. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
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