Goonyella Riverside Mine is a large
open cut coking 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 ...
in the
Bowen Basin. It is one of many coal mines 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 and is located at
Moranbah about 30 km north of the township. The mine produced 12.4 million tonnes of
metallurgical 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 ...
from July 2012 to June 2013.
It is owned by
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance. The Goonyella Upper Seam, the Goonyella Middle Seam and the Goonyella Lower Seam are all mined at the site. The coal is well known for its great coking characteristics. Much of the coal was such a high grade, the wash plants were often programmed to add ash to meet the contracted export quality targets.
History
The Goonyella Mine was developed by Central Queensland Coal Associates, (
Utah International Corporation 85% and Mitsubishi Development Co 15%) before being sold to BHP. Operations commenced in 1971 at Goonyella while mining began at Riverside in 1982.
On 12 November 2019, BMA Operations announced that it would
automate
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
86 Komatsu Trucks by 2020. The announcement was openly criticised by the
CFMEU Mining & Energy Division and the Queensland Opposition Leader
Deb Frecklington who stated that approvals to the mine operation should be reviewed.
The mine is colour coded to "Goonyella Green", and the haul trucks were given names of racehorses.
Coal is exported by the
Goonyella railway line via
Hay Point
Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...
to markets worldwide.
Safety at Goonyella Riverside mine
The mine has recorded four fatal accidents since 1990
See also
*
Coal mining 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
References
1971 establishments in Australia
BHP
Coal mines in Queensland
Mines in Central Queensland
Mitsubishi
Open-pit mines
Surface mines in Australia
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