The Curragh Coal Mine is an open-cut,
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
mine located 30 km north of
Blackwater in
Central Queensland
Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...
, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 88 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. The mine had an annual production capacity of 7 million tonnes of coal. The mine covers 12,600 ha of the Rangal Coal measures in the
Bowen Basin
The Bowen Basin contains the largest coal reserves in Australia. This major coal-producing region contains one of the world's largest deposits of bituminous coal. The Basin contains much of the known Permian coal resources in Queensland includ ...
.
In 2012, production at the mine was increased to 8.5 million tonnes a year.
Later in the year operations changed from seven days per week to five.
Curragh Coal Mine was previously owned by
Wesfarmers Resources and has an expected mine life to 2025. Overburden is removed by
Thiess.
In 2017, Coronado Coal Group purchased Curragh Coal Mine from Wesfarmers Resources.
Exports from the mine leave the country via the
Blackwater railway system
The Blackwater railway system is located in Central Queensland and services the coal mining area of the Bowen Basin. It carries coal, as well as products, to other destinations by way of connections to the North Coast Line at Rocklands and t ...
and the
Port of Gladstone
The Port of Gladstone is Queensland's largest multi-commodity port and the fifth largest multi-commodity port in Australia. It is the world's fourth largest coal exporting terminal. It is within the locality of Callemondah in Gladstone in Centra ...
. Some of the coal is used to produce electricity at the
Stanwell Power Station.
Incidents
In January 2020, a 33-year-old worker was killed after being trapped under heavy machinery at the mine. A number of charges relating to the incident were laid by the Office of the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor under the ''Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999''. Another worker was fatally injured at the mine in November 2021.
See also
*
Coal in Australia
Coal is mined in every state of Australia. The largest black coal resources occur in Queensland and New South Wales. About 70% of coal mined in Australia is exported, mostly to eastern Asia, and of the balance most is used in electricity gener ...
*
List of mines in Australia
This list of mines in Australia is subsidiary to the list of mines article and lists working, defunct and planned mines in the country organised by primary mineral output. For practical purposes, this list also contains stone, marble and other q ...
References
≈
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curragh Coal Mine
Coal mines in Queensland
Mines in Central Queensland
Surface mines in Australia