The Rolleston 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 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 600 million tonnes of thermal

. The mine has an annual production capacity of 14 million tonnes run of mine coal. It is one of numerous coal mines 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 ...

. The mine is jointly owned by

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 ...

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide ''sogo shosha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchanges ( ...

and Winfield Energy. It was acquired by Xstrata after its purchase of

Mount Isa Mines Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper, lead, zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It has ...

in 2003. Full development of the Rolleston mine was approved by Xstrata in February 2004. Mining operations begin in 2005. Winfield Energy acquired the 12.5% interest formerly held by

Itochu is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descend ...

on 8 February 2019. Rolleston Mine is approved to produce six million tonnes per year for export and two million for domestic use. Coal from Rolleston Mine leaves the country via 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 ...

. The majority of the mine's haulage is conducted by

Aurizon Aurizon ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National. it was the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland Government-owned company, it was privatised and floated o ...

under contract using electric locomotives. Coal from the mine is used to power the

Gladstone Power Station The Gladstone Power Station is a power station at Callemondah, Gladstone, Queensland, Australia. It is Queensland's largest power station, with six coal powered steam turbines generating a maximum of 1,680 MW of electricity. Power from ...

Floods

Excess water filled the mine pits in 2010 affecting production. The mine was forced to declare

force majeure In contract law, (from Law French: 'overwhelming force', ) is a common clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such ...

after the

2010–2011 Queensland floods A series of floods hit Queensland, Australia, beginning in November 2010. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least 90 towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was estimated at ...

affected rail operations.

Expansion

An application to expand the mine was made to the federal government on 17 May 2011. The mine is located within the Fitzroy River basin which flows into the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

. An expansion of mining operations may indirectly affect the

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

through sedimentation and the pollution of waterways. The expansion would lift production almost threefold to between 15 and 20 million tonnes a year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolleston Coal Mine Coal mines in Queensland Mines in Central Queensland 2005 establishments in Australia Surface mines in Australia Itochu

Floods

Expansion

See also

References