Grosvenor, which is situated immediately south of Anglo American’s Moranbah North mine, is expected to produce 5 million tonnes per annum of metallurgical coal from its underground longwall operation over a projected life of 26 years.
In its first phase of development, Grosvenor will consist of a single new underground longwall mine, targeting the same well understood Goonyella Middle coal seam as Moranbah North, and will process its coal through the existing Moranbah North CHPP and train loading facilities.
A prefeasibility study for expansion through the addition of a second longwall at Grosvenor is underway. Grosvenor is expected to benefit from operating costs in the lower half of the cost curve.
Synergies are also expected from the integration of Grosvenor with Moranbah North, including from blending and yield improvement, while a continued focus on improving longwall productivity to 100 cutting hours per week across the business’ underground operations will deliver further value.
Anglo American’s Metallurgical Coal business chief executive Seamus French said: “We are excited to be developing the first growth phase of our planned Moranbah hub which will drive our target of 12% compound annual production growth by 2020.
“Grosvenor and the wider hub will produce some of the highest quality coking coal in the world and represents a major investment commitment for the region,” he said.
“Our longwall design model will enable us to replicate our approach across our expansion footprint, ensuring the transfer of best practice project efficiency, cost control and risk mitigation.
“We have also now received confirmation of our development rights from the Queensland government for the expansion of the Abbot Point coal port – a dedicated export facility that would have the capacity to accommodate the growth from our Moranbah hub.”
First development coal from Grosvenor is expected in 2013 and the commissioning of the longwall in 2016.
Anglo American chief executive Cynthia Carroll said Grosvenor was one of the company’s four major strategic growth projects across its copper, nickel and iron ore businesses.
“Grosvenor is the first of our next phase growth projects and will initiate our industry leading production growth of metallurgical coal from our Australian business over the next decade,” she said.
