ENVIRONMENT

North Goonyella suffered roof falls after fire

The North Goonyella project team is assessing prospective paths, timetables and costs.

 Peabody Energy's North Goonyella mine in Queensland.

Peabody Energy's North Goonyella mine in Queensland.

The mine, which was closed after an underground fire last September, is still under strict regulatory oversight.

"Following substantial delays, the company proceeded with re-entry and exploration of the first zone earlier this month," Peabody said.

"The regulatory environment continues to be challenging given the unprecedented nature of the recovery actions. 

"Advancement during the recovery phase has been subject to the discretion of the regulatory authority, special protocols and substantial related administrative requirements, which has resulted in a far slower rate of progress than originally contemplated."

Based on these changes the North Goonyella project team, led by Peabody executive vice-president and chief operating officer Charles Meintjes and Australian Operations president Marc Hathhorn, is assessing prospective paths, timetables and costs.  

"The company continues to take action to appropriately scale on-site activities based on underground mine conditions and external factors, with all work currently being undertaken required to preserve value," Peabody said.

"Actions include the completion of a voluntary reduction program; continued engagement with the Queensland Mines Inspectorate on the evolving recovery protocols; and conducting extensive value-engineering activities on prospective paths." 

Peabody is continuing to evaluate this project through a stage-gated approach to prove feasibility. 

North Goonyella project costs of US$28.4 million came in below the quarterly guidance range of $30 million to $35 million, even with $2.3 million in charges associated with the voluntary employee reduction program, based on reduced activity levels at the mine.

"Paths to recognise value include determining if the base case to access the 10 North panel remains, based on timing, costs and project risk; evaluating an alternative route through the second zone to the southern panels of the mine; and other scenarios," Peabody said.

"All potential paths preserve the opportunity to access more than 40 million tons of high-quality hard coking coal in the lower-seam reserves over time and provide the opportunity to explore commercial activities. 

"Given ongoing activities, Peabody is suspending North Goonyella guidance at this time, and intends to provide new targets around North Goonyella production timing and costs in accordance with the determined path.  The company expects to complete its evaluation within the next three months."

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

ESG Mining Company Index: Benchmarking the Future of Sustainable Mining

The ESG Mining Company Index report provides an in-depth evaluation of ESG performance of 61 of the world's largest mining companies. Using a robust framework, it assesses each company across 9 meticulously weighted indicators within 6 essential pillars.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2024 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of exploration trends and technologies, highlighting the best intercepts and discoveries and the latest initial resource estimates.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production