The coal will be railed to Lyttelton from Stillwater and then shipped to international markets.
Coal from Roa Mine has been exported from the West Coast since 1989 and Solid Energy and Roa Mine have often blended their coals for export.
“We’re pleased that with the support of Toll Rail and Lyttelton Port of Christchurch we have been able to offer Roa Mining and their customers a secure, flexible and efficient transport solution,” Solid Energy chief Barry Bragg said.
Roa Mining, which employs 32 people on the West Coast, will undertake a full refurbishment of the coal-loading facility at Stillwater to accommodate the rapid loading of trains required.
In other Solid Energy news, the company restarted work on constructing a rockfall protection barrier in the southern part of the Mt Augustus ridgeline at its Stockton opencast mine.
Mining in the area was suspended on February 17 following the discovery of two Powelliphanta snails. Solid Energy was granted a Wildlife Permit covering 12 hectares at the southern end of the Mt Augustus ridgeline on 27 February.
Recommencement of work follows the completion of surveys of the area to determine the presence of Powelliphanta snails under the provisions of this permit.
Solid Energy expects to complete the barrier and a silt fence within the next two months. Overburden stripping will start in the coming weeks and coal winning at the start of August.
Fourteen snails were found in the recent surveys carried out by Solid Energy working with the Department of Conservation. All the snails have been retained by the DoC. Further searches will be carried out in a small area of this part of ridgeline before stripping starts to confirm that there are no further Powelliphanta snails in the immediate vicinity.
Searches for Powelliphanta snails will continue in and adjacent to other mining blocks in the Mt Augustus area, the company said.
Solid Energy applied in August 2005 for a wildlife permit to relocate snails from an 11ha area to the north of the Mt Augustus ridgeline and is waiting for a decision on this permit from the ministers of conservation and energy.
