The Austar coal mine is a

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

located near

Paxton, New South Wales Paxton is a village in the Hunter Region of New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision ...

. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 221 million tonnes of

coking coal Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled ...

, one of the largest coal reserves in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and the world. In 2012, the mine had an annual production capacity of 3 million tonnes of coal and employed 409 people. This colliery incorporates the former Pelton, Cessnock No.1 (Kalingo) and Ellalong collieries near Paxton, all of which had closed during the coal slumps, and was opened (or re-opened) in July 1979. The adjoining old Bellbird South colliery was later added, and the entire complex was renamed Southland colliery. In October 2004 there was an underground fire and the mine was sealed. The company, Gympie Gold, was forced into receivership and the mine was placed in a 'care and maintenance' position. In December 2004 the Chinese company

Yancoal Yancoal is an Australian coal mining company operating mines in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. A dual-listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it is majority owned by Yanzhou C ...

purchased the colliery, changed its name to Austar Coal Mine, and recommenced operations. It moved to care and maintenance in March 2020.China's Yancoal puts Austar mine at Cessnock on care and maintenance
''

Newcastle Herald The ''Newcastle Herald'' (formerly branded as ''The Herald'') is a local tabloid newspaper published daily, Monday to Saturday, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is the only local newspaper that serves the greater Hunter Region and ...

'' 24 January 2020

References

{{Reflist Coal mines in New South Wales Hunter Region