Tahmoor Colliery is an underground coal mine at

Tahmoor Tahmoor is a small town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia, in Wollondilly Shire. History Originally named Myrtle Creek, it was a farming area on the Great Southern Road, later named the Hume Highway. When the new Main South ...

in the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales, Australia. It operates in the Bulli coal seam. Most of the mine product is hard coking coal used for steel making. A small quantity of steaming blend coal used for power generation is also produced. Both products are exported to Europe and Asia. Construction of the mine was commenced by Clutha Development in 1975 with it opened in 1980 by BP that had purchased Clutha. It was sold to Conzinc Riotinto Australia in 1989, Austal Coal in 1997,

Centennial Coal ÷Some of the more notable coal companies in Australia are the following: Summary of coal companies Anglo Coal Australia Ltd Anglo Coal Australia Ltd owns and operates a number of mines in Queensland and New South Wales. Mines Callide mine: i ...

in 2005, Xstrata in 2007 and

Glencore Glencore plc is a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas head office is in London and its registered office is in Saint Helier, Jersey. The current company was c ...

in 2013 and

SIMEC Group SIMEC Group Ltd is a British international energy and natural resources business focused on resources, sustainable power, infrastructure, and commodities trading. In 2016 it had an annual turnover of almost USD2.5 billion and net assets of U ...

in 2018. The mine was reported in 2017 as having of reserves and total resource. The colliery is connected to the Main Southern railway line via a balloon loop that opened in May 1981. In 2013, extension of the mine was anticipated to take below a railway tunnel on the Main Southern railway line. To avoid the risk of subsidence within the tunnel, Xstrata funded the construction of a diversion around Redbank Hill to remove trains from the tunnel, which was filled with rock and sealed.

Incidents

Tahmoor Colliery has a history of outbursts where gas trapped in the coal violently escapes during mining, throwing hundreds of tonnes of coal and rock, and large amounts of suffocating gas. One miner was killed as a consequence of one of these outbursts in 1985. In 1994, it was reported that Tahmoor had recorded 89 outbursts up to April 1992. In response to that fatality, practices and equipment were upgraded, initially to provide a separately-ventilated and armoured operator cabin, and later to provide remote control. In September 2018, two men were trapped underground when the lift cage jammed in the mine shaft. They were uninjured, and rescued late in the evening by Fire & Rescue New South Wales.

References

{{reflist BP Coal mines in New South Wales Former Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries Glencore Industries of the Southern Highlands (New South Wales) Xstrata 1980 establishments in Australia