The Middlemount Coal Mine is an open-cut mine located approximately 90 kilometres north-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 ...

and some 7 kilometres west of the township of

Middlemount Middlemount is a rural town and locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Middlemount had a population of 1,841 people. It is nicknamed the "Giant Peanut" by some locals due to its peanut-shaped road layout. ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

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 ...

. The mine produces medium-volatile pulverized coal injection (PCI)

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 ...

and semi-hard

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 ...

for the export market. Full scale operations at the open-cut mine commenced in November 2011. Production is expected to ramp up to approximately 3.6 Mtpa of saleable production by the middle of 2014. With JORC compliant measured and indicated resources and proved and probable ROM reserves of some 123 mt and 96 mt respectively at mine startup the current mine life is estimated to be in excess of 24 years. Middlemount Coal is a 50/50

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between

Peabody Energy Peabody Energy is a coal mining and energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody ...

and

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 ...

History

Nathan Tinkler Nathan Tinkler (born 1 February 1976) is an Australian mining industry executive and was previously the principal shareholder of Aston Resources and Whitehaven Coal. He started out as a mining apprentice in the Hunter Valley, in New South Wale ...

paid $11.5 million to Sennen Resources in 2006 for the undeveloped mine. In 2007, Tinkler sold a 30% share to the Hong Kong-based

Noble Group Noble Resources Trading Holdings Limited (commonly known as Noble resources) is a commodity trader based in Hong Kong. It trades energy products and industrial raw materials. Its predecessor, Noble Group Ltd was embroiled in an accounting fraud ...

for $50 million. Later that year, Tinkler sold the rest of his stake in the mine to Macarthur Coal for shares in Macarthur Coal and $57 million in cash. In January 2013,

Cyclone Oswald Tropical Cyclone Oswald in 2013 was a tropical cyclone that passed over parts of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia over a number of days, causing widespread impact including severe storms, flooding, and water spouts. Coastal regions ...

caused flooding in the area which resulted in the breach of levee banks. Production at the mine was halted for a number of weeks. On 26 June 2019, 55 year old mine worker David Routledge was killed when a mining excavator he was operating was engulfed from a wall collapse.

References

{{reflist Coal mines in Queensland Mines in Central Queensland Surface mines in Australia Isaac Region Peabody Energy

History

See also

References