MIM’s Oaky Creek complex consists of the open-cut mine, and the No 1, Oaky North and Alliance longwall mines.
The No 1 underground mine produced only 123,018 tonnes product coal, compared with 590,265t in December quarter 2000. (All production tonnage reported as product coal, MIM’s 75% share.) The main reason for the drop was that the No 1 longwall experienced very poor mining conditions.
Despite this, total production from the complex has risen from 1.357Mt for the December 2000 quarter to 1.472Mt for the December 2001 quarter. MIM said it was able to compensate for production drops by the production flexibility provided from multiple sources. The re-commissioned open-cut operation, for example, produced 317,141t during the December 2001 quarter (0t for previous period).
The Oaky North longwall produced 750,682t for the December quarter (709,184t). Work has meanwhile progressed on the development of the South-East extension production area of the No 1 mine. Commissioning of the new thin-seam longwall is expected to commence mid June half 2002.
MIM expects coal output for the March quarter to continue to increase. For the 2002 financial year MIM expects the total production (100%) from Oaky Creek to exceed 9Mt, compared with 8Mt produced in 2001.
The company reported that longwall mining at the Alliance sub-lease area is scheduled to conclude during the March quarter. Mining of the last panel at Alliance is believed to have stopped earlier this month.
At NCA, strong production performances continued. Product coal output measured 932,975t (MIM’s 75% share) from the Collinsville open-cut, compared with 660,570t produced in the December 2000 quarter, which had been affected by planned washplant maintenance (including an upgrade at Collinsville).
Newlands open-cut produced 735,991t (378,903t December 2000) while the Newlands longwall mine produced 855,209t (574,157t).
About 14sq.km of 3D seismic surveys were completed close to existing coal mine operations.
MIM is continuing its feasibility study into the development of the open-cut Rolleston thermal coal resource in the Bowen Basin, expected to be completed in the June 2002 quarter. Drilling of 93 holes totalling 4794m has been completed including 1131m of cored drilling to allow geotechnical logging and coal quality assessment work.
