Published in Australia's Longwalls

 

The Coal Services production statistics for the year ended December 2003 show some 26 longwall mines produced 72.930 million tonnes of run of mine (ROM) coal, including development coal. Last year 34 mines produced 81.410Mt.

 

Compared with last year’s top performance of 7.5Mt produced by Oaky North, no mine came even close, with only four operations producing over 4Mt, all in Queensland.

 

Leading the top four line-up is Xtrata’s Newlands mine with a sterling 4.933Mt, up 6% on 2002. Newlands, ranked fourth last year, has steadily improved its output over the past two years.

 

Ranked second, Anglo Coal’s Moranbah North mine produced 4.719Mt, up 20% on 2002, but has struggled after suffering a tailgate fall earlier this year which will undoubtedly negatively impact on the mine’s output in 2004.

 

Rio Tinto’s Kestrel remains a quiet achiever despite a big drop in output of 19% for 2003 to 4.679Mt.

 

The BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Crinum mine produced 4.527Mt, a drop of 7.6%, and is one of the more consistent producers this year.

 

The Dartbrook mine in New South Wales had an amazing 149% jump in production to 3.834Mt, putting the Anglo Coal mine in the top five ranks for the first time ever after years of struggling with high gas content (see mine profile, page 37). It is anticipated that the move to the Kayuga seam will generate peak output of 6Mtpa.

 

Other than Dartbrook, six mines produced between 3-4Mt, including Anglo Coal’s German Creek Southern mine (3.628Mt, up 7.4%), Xstrata’s Oaky Creek No1 (3.516Mt, up 56%), Xstrata’s Ulan mine (3.327Mt, down 6%), Centennial’s Newstan mine (3.198Mt, up 17.6%), Xstrata’s United mine (3.099Mt, up 56%) and BHP Billiton’s Appin mine (3.033Mt, up 5.8%).

 

Seventeen mines in NSW produced a total of 40.292Mt ROM coal (excluding South Bulga) and nine Queensland mines produced 32.637Mt.

 

Ten mines increased their output by an average of 36.4% (excluding the impact of Beltana, United and Glennies Creek which have not yet made a full year’s contribution). Twelve mines produced an average of 20% less (excluding the impact of closed operations Cumnock and South Bulga).

 

The most consistent producer was Centennial’s Springvale which produced 2.454Mt, a 1.1% improvement on last year.

 

Of Centennial’s other two operations – Angus Place and Newstan – the latter performed well, but Angus Place dropped 22% to 1.568Mt. The mine is currently undergoing a major infrastructure upgrade which is aimed at increasing rated capacity of the coal clearance system.

 

The addition of MIM’s three Queensland mines (Oaky North, Oaky 1 and Newlands) to Xstrata’s coal portfolio means the company has majority ownership of eight longwall mines (excluding closed Cumnock and South Bulga mines). Those eight mines produced a total of 25.687Mt in 2003, bearing in mind Xstrata finalised its purchase of the three MIM mines in June 2003.

 

Xstrata closed Cumnock and South Bulga last year, while the long-term future of Gympie Gold’s Southland mine, which was forced to close after a fire over Christmas last year, remains uncertain. A 90% improvement in output for 2003 to 1.787Mt had seemed to herald the long awaited turnaround of the Southland operation.

 

Which leaves 24 active longwall mines in Australia.

 

Xstrata’s newly commissioned Beltana mine in NSW started mining in June 2003, replacing South Bulga which finished in February. Widely regarded as being at the cutting edge of technology and work practices, the mine’s annualised output (given its six month performance) is around 5.5Mt. Similarly Xstrata’s United mine has been churning out some very consistent tonnages after starting longwall mining in May last year.

 

New longwall projects on the cards include Centennial Coal’s Mandalong project, scheduled to begin longwall production in January 2005. Longwall mining at BHPB’s Dendrobium mine is expected to kick off in the first quarter of 2005 while the BMA project, Broadmeadow in central Queensland, plans to begin longwall production by mid-2005.

 

BHPB’s longwall mines produced 11.089Mt, including the BMA Crinum mine in Queensland.

 

BHPB and Xstrata together accounted for over half, or close to 37 Mt, of total longwall production in Australia.