The latest statistics from Coal Services show Australia’s longwall mines produced 81.410 million tonnes of run of mine (ROM) coal for the 12 months to December 2002. The figure is 4.4% lower than for the previous year, reflecting the impact of the closures of eight mines during the year. The top four performers improved their performance by an average of 32% while the next best six all dropped their output by an average of 10%.
Readers will recall that MIM’s Oaky North operation set a new Australian production record in the fiscal year ended June 2002 of 7.054Mt ROM. The mine has again bettered this record with output of 7.583Mt ROM for the full year ended December 2002. Longwall coal produced totalled 7.130Mt, up 20% on the previous year.
The next best performers, all Queensland mines, were Rio Tinto’s Kestrel (5.805Mt ROM, up 32%), BHP Billiton Mitsubishi’s Crinum (4.899Mt, up 63%), MIM’s Newlands (4.657Mt, up 13%), and Anglo Coal’s Moranbah North (3.950Mt, down 32%).
Crinum’s remarkable 63% improvement is worth noting given that for three months the mine was effectively down with roof control problems. According to BHPB, the result is due to the resolution of the adverse roof conditions the mine has been battling for some time.
Only 10 mines produced more than 3Mt ROM this year, compared with 14 last year. Other top performers were Xstrata’s Ulan (3.537Mt, down 5.3%), South Bulga (3.489Mt, down 13.3%), German Creek Southern (3.378Mt, down 3.7%), Appin (3.218Mt, down 0.7%) and Baal Bone (3.047Mt, down 6.7%).
The year was marked by the closures of eight longwall mines: Alliance, Bellambi West, Kenmare, Moonee, New Wallsend No 2, Tower, Wambo and Wyee. Xstrata announced earlier this year that Cumnock would close by year-end. Cumnock’s closure will reduce the number of currently operating longwalls to 25. All are NSW mines, bar Kenmare and Alliance, reflecting the geographic location of Australia’s more antiquated longwall systems.
What has happened to the longwall equipment from each of these mines makes an interesting sidebar. The Alliance longwall is reportedly in a Thiess storage facility in Brisbane. It seems likely the Bellambi West equipment will be left underground and written off. Kenmare’s longwall appears likely to be recycled in a new underground mine BHPB is planning in central Queensland. The Moonee longwall was bought by the Southland operation and is scheduled to be installed underground towards year-end. Total project costs for Southland to modify and install the near-new longwall are estimated at about $9 million. Tower’s longwall will be used at BHPB’s other Illawarra sites. The New Wallsend No 2 mini-wall was sold in February.
Returning to the production statistics, three big producers accounted for 46Mt of total longwall production. Xstrata produced a total of 16.52Mt from its six longwall mines in NSW, almost exactly the same figure as last year. BHP Billiton’s longwall mines produced 14.84Mt, including the Crinum and Kenmare mines in Queensland but excluding Moonee. MIM’s three Queensland mines produced 14.49Mt, up 11% on the previous period.
