Xstrata’s longwall mines produced just over 32 million tonnes of coal during 2005 from its underground mines. Total group production from all company mines, including from opencut mines and South African operations, was 62Mt for the year.
In New South Wales the company operates the top-producing Beltana mine, and the Ulan, United and West Wallsend operations.
As previously reported on International Longwall News, Beltana had a fantastic year, producing 7Mt in 2005 and setting several new records in the process.
The company’s Ulan operation improved its output by 32% to produce just over 3Mt of thermal coal. During the year, work has continued on the upgrade of the Ulan mine that has included a $68 million state-of-the-art longwall system together with a $16 million underground drift conveyor system. The longwall is yet to be taken underground for final commissioning.
The company’s United mine delivered a credible 3.3Mt, but production was 13% lower than 2004. West Wallsend’s output was also down, by 9% to just over 3Mt, while Baal Bone’s 2.9Mt was on par with last year’s output.
In Queensland, Xstrata’s Newlands Southern dipped 23% though this was in line with expectations as the mine moved from its current mining domain in the 2005 second half to the new Northern Underground where mining has begun.
The Newlands coal handling and preparation plant is being fitted with a new dense medium cyclone plant to increase the production of coking coal and provide additional capacity when full production at Northern kicks in.
The Oaky Creek mine produced 4.1Mt, very much in line with 2004, with 6Mt forecast for 2006. A second longwall has been installed at the operation to mine a previously overlooked section of the resource.
Oaky North’s 4.7Mt was 16% better than 2004 though a roof fall at the mine resulted in 130,000 tonnes of lost hard coking coal production. This mine is forecast to produce 5.2Mt in 2006.
The company is considering installing a trial longwall at the Cook bord and pillar mine in Queensland, to produce around 1.3Mt of hard coking coal per annum.
