The company was keen to contain the incident, which followed a fire at its Beltana mine in New South Wales in January which stopped production there.
“Xstrata Coal confirms an ignition of a small pocket of methane occurred underground at the longwall of the Oaky North mine on Monday 11 July, 2011,” a spokesperson for Xstrata Coal told ILN.
“The ignition was extinguished immediately and no one was injured.
“While production at the Oaky North mine continues, the longwall has ceased at this time. The safety of our people is our priority and an investigation is currently underway.”
The Oaky North mine cemented its spot as the nation’s longwall production king with its 2010 ROM output of 8.74 million tonnes – nearly 3% higher than its forecasted tonnage of 8.5Mt.
The output of that mine is even more commendable when considering the coal clearance to the surface is rated at 5500 tonnes per hour compared to the 6500tph setup at Oaky North, which is the highest conveyor capacity in the sector.
Xstrata’s Oaky Creek complex in Queensland had a solid 2010 after the Oaky Creek No.1 mine restarted production in the latter half of the previous year.
