Production at the mine ceased as investigations into its cause take place.

“Anglo American is investigating an incident involving a highwall in one of the pits at Dawson mine on Friday night,” a spokeswoman told ILN.

“No one was injured. Work is underway to stabilise the mining area and safely return to normal operations.”

Dawson mine is located in the southern end of the Bowen Basin and is made up of three operating pits: North, Central and South.

The site has been operating since the 1960s and was the first mine to export coal to Japan in 1961. It was also the first mine to introduce draglines into its operations in 1963.

Dawson mine produces coking, soft coking and thermal coal, using open cut and highwall mining methods. Coal is railed to the RGTanna Coal Terminal in Gladstone for export to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India.

Technology has been integral in the development of Dawson, starting with the introduction of Queensland’s first dragline in 1963 and continuing with modern highwall mining systems.

The highwall collapse comes as Anglo American achieved record first-quarter coal production of 7.2 million tonnes due to a ramp-up of metallurgical production and a turnaround at its revitalised Moranbah North mine.

Anglo is keen to continue transferring the lessons in productivity at Moranbah North to its nearby Grosvenor mine, which is due to begin longwall production in 2016.

Metallurgical coal production for the company increased by 23% to 4.6Mt, with Moranbah, Foxleigh and Peace River Coal reaching record production through productivity improvements.

Moranbah North is developing its own underground technology solutions to lead Anglo American’s campaign of tripling company-wide coal production by 2020.