Austral Coal has appointed International Mining Consultants (IMC) to undertake a bankable feasibility study to develop the Tahmoor North and Bargo reserves, 90 kilometre South West of Sydney.
Tahmoor North and Bargo are extensions of the coal seam currently being extracted at Tahmoor by longwall mining, but potentially of much higher quality and mining efficiency.
The current longwall operates at a seam height of around 1.8 metres, at a width of 225m wide. Austral said the seam at Tahmoor North and Bargo is much thicker than existing workings - up to 3.5m - and both areas are capable of supporting substantially larger longwall panels than are currently being mined.
"Preliminary studies indicate the longwall panels would be of world class dimensions, potentially up to 4km in length and accommodating up to 300-metre wide faces containing double the mineable coal compared to existing panels," the company said.
Tahmoor North is estimated to have mineable reserves of 25 million tonnes of coal and Bargo 37Mt. This takes Tahmoor's total reserves to in excess of 72Mt of mineable giving Tahmoor a life of greater than 20 years at double the current production rate. Tahmoor produced 1.572 Mt in the 12 months to June 2000.
All coal extracted from Tahmoor North and Bargo will be handled and processed using existing facilities, with minimal capital expenditure required to upgrade surface facilities to accommodate an expected increase in mine production.
The IMC study will determine the optimum future development plan and longwall panel layout to ensure underground development and infrastructure is established in advance to enable continuous production at Tahmoor. Routine gas drainage and development is already underway for the next four longwall panels in the current domain which will be mined to 2004.
The feasibility study will review the considerable geological, geotechnical and coal quality database and recommend an optimum mine plan for future operations.
"Several years of restructuring and cost cutting have left Tahmoor as a highly productive mine with a competitive cost structure," Austral said. "This, combined with a resurgence in the price and demand for coking coal, means it is well placed to take full advantage of this further growth
potential and sustain long-term profitability."
In related news, a further two Long-Airdox battery haulers on a hire basis, have been delivered to Tahmoor, following the purchase of two CHA818 Un-A-Haulers in March. This makes Tahmoor the first Australian mine to switch to complete dependence on battery haulers instead of shuttle cars for roadway development. Operating Long-Airdox battery haulers in Australia now amounts to eleven. Other mines which are using the CHA818 are Cooranbong Colliery with three machines, and Newstan Colliery and Moonee Colliery each with two machines.
