The industry briefing was hosted by The Mining Equipment Services Council of Australia (MESCA). More than 100 delegates heard about progress on CS Energy’s A$1.2 billion Kogan Creek power station and coal mine project.

The 80th briefing for equipment manufacturers and service providers to the minerals and energy sector was addressed by CS Energy’s project manager John Harten and mining manager Tim Mortimer.

Harten said when completed in 2007, the 150 megawatt coal-fired plant will be Australia’s largest power station.

The timeline for project completion will see mine development starting in November 2005 and mining site establishment in mid 2006. First coal is required for station commissioning in early 2007. Power station construction is well underway after starting in May this year with transmission line construction starting at present.

CS Energy is the mine owner and will be the eventual power station operator. The construction of the power station and coal handling plant is being undertaken through a consortium of Siemens and Hitachi. Mine development and operation is being handled by contracting group Golding Contractors.

The Hitachi designed boiler will be an advanced cycle supercritical boiler and will operate at 37.5% efficiency. Environmentally the plant is being designed to world’s best standards. For example, for every megawatt of power sold the project will use 100 litres of water, compared with 1400 litres/MW sold (average) on the national grid.

CO2 emissions are expected to be 830 tonnes per Gigawatt hour sold, compared with 870t/GWh sold; and NOx will be 2.1t/GWh sold compared with 2.7t/GWh sold.

The mine has a large thermal coal resource measuring 400Mt with a 50 year life at current capacity. Three main seams contain 10-12m of coal with bands of siltstones and clays. Initial overburden strip is approximately 15m.

Overburden removal will be undertaken by 250t excavator and 150t rear dump trucks to remove 7 million bank cubic meters per annum. Selective coal mining will be carried out by a front end loader and 150t rear dump trucks for ROM production of 2.8Mtpa. Average strip ratio over the life of the mine is 2.5 bcm/t. There is potential for a dragline with any power station expansion. The mine will be manned by about 50 people which will put productivity in the 50,000 tonne per man year category.

Harten concluded the presentation with an overview of the work packages available to contractors and sub-contractors for the Kogan Creek project.

MESCA is a dynamic industry business development association, part of the Australian Industry Group. With over 190 members and growing, MESCA provides the industry with information to assist in optimizing the various opportunities within the miners and energy sector.