The Ensham Coal Mine is a
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 40 km east of
Emerald
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...
in
Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 1.48 billion 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 Ensham mine has an annual production capacity of 2 million tonnes of coal.
Ensham consists of six pits on either side of the
Nogoa River. Operations currently utilise the open-cut method of mining. Extraction is conducted by dragline and truck and shovel operations. A transition to underground mining is required to access the highest quality coal.
Coal is transported to port 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 ...
.
As thermal coal prices declined in 2012 mining operations were reduced to 40% of capacity and a further round of permanent job cuts was announced.
Flooding
The mine was inundated by floods in January 2008.
Two pits were left filled with water. One
dragline
A dragline excavator is a piece of heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining.
Draglines fall into two broad categories: those that are based on standard, lifting cranes, and the heavy units which have to be built on-site. Mo ...
was submerged in 15 metres of water.
Total mine damages have been estimated at around $300 million.
Because of precaution such as the construction of flood protection levees after the 2008 flood the mine was not affected by the
2010–11 Queensland floods
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
.
See also
*
Coal in Australia
*
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:Ensham Coal Mine
Coal mines in Queensland
Mines in Central Queensland