1.2.1.1.2 Brown coal


Brown coal within the geological Gippsland Basin lies within three structural depressions: the Latrobe Valley, Seaspray and Gelliondale-Alberton depressions (Figure 3 and Figure 5). There are 28 defined coalfields within the Gippsland Basin bioregion (Table 4).

Figure 5

Figure 5 Structural elements and brown coal subcrop map for the onshore Gippsland Basin

Source: Holdgate (2003)

The thickness and uniformity of major coal seams over large areas are indicative of sustained periods of steady and slow rates of subsidence in the coal swamps. This is corroborated by the very low ash yield through the full thickness of seams. Each of the four main coal seams (Yallourn, Morwell 1A, Morwell 1B and Morwell 2) had roughly the same area of deposition (500 to 700 km2) in which more than 80 m thickness of brown coal developed, each made up of four to five cycles (Holdgate, 2003).

Figure 5 shows the main tectonic subdivisions and brown coalfield areas of the onshore Gippsland Basin as defined by Hocking (1976). Figure 6 shows the stratigraphic nomenclature currently applied to the onshore deposits of brown coal in the Gippsland Basin.

Figure 6

Figure 6 Main stratigraphic subdivisions of the onshore Gippsland Basin. Defined by structure-based areas

Source: Holdgate (2003)

Most of the main economic coal-bearing sequences formed from the late Eocene to the middle Miocene (Figure 6). As a consequence of erosion on anticlines, separate systems of stratigraphic nomenclature have arisen where coal-bearing sequences are not now directly connected, or where infill drilling in the deeper synclines was not available at the time of discovery.

Commencing with the work of Hocking (1969) and Partridge (1971), many workers (e.g. Gloe, 1975, 1976, 1984; Holdgate, 1982, 1985b; Smith, 1982; Thompson, 1980) recognised the essential two-fold subdivision of the coal measure sequences. These comprise the upper non-marine Yarragon, Yallourn, Morwell and Alberton formations, which are facies equivalents to the similar aged marine Seaspray Group; and the lower non-marine Traralgon and Yarram formations that underlie all the above formations and are consequently more widespread. Stratigraphic correlation of the coal seams is shown on the detailed cross-sections in the onshore Gippsland Basin (Figure 7).

Figure 7

Figure 7 Cross-sections through the Latrobe Valley coal measures (see Figure 8 for locations of A-A' and B-B')

Source: Holdgate (2003)

Traralgon Formation

The Traralgon Formation is the oldest Paleogene unit (Figure 6) which includes useful economic accumulations of brown coal, and is dated by spore-pollen ages to the middle Eocene to early Oligocene (Holdgate et al., 2000). It is widespread throughout the onshore Gippsland Basin with the exception of the Lakes Entrance Platform, and is known to extend offshore.

The Traralgon Formation comprises interbedded gravels, sands, clays and major coal seams. Coarser grained sands and gravels predominate towards the base, with coals and clays in the middle, and sands, clays and minor coals near the top.

Where the Traralgon Formation subcrops or outcrops along the basin margins, or where it is not overlain by Morwell and Yallourn formations, economically recoverable coal seams occur. Such areas include all the major coalfields along the Baragwanath Anticline (Gormandale, Willung, Holey Plains, Coolungoolun, Longford Dome, Stradbroke, Boodyarn and Won Wron) and also on the Loy Yang and Gelliondale domes (Figure 5).

Across the Baragwanath Anticline the main coal seams recognised are the Traralgon 1 and Traralgon 2 seams. In the Latrobe Valley Depression only the Traralgon 1 Seam, and an overlying Traralgon 0 Seam, occurs west of the Rosedale Monocline where they extend as far as the Traralgon Syncline. The Traralgon 1 Seam at Gormandale and Flynns Creek Syncline can be over 100 m thick, and at Stradbroke the Traralgon 2 Seam is over 100 m thick. Further east at Holey Plains, Coolungoolun and Longford Dome, thinning, splitting and interseam erosion has reduced each of the Traralgon seams to about 40 m (Holdgate et al., 2000).

A large proportion of the total Traralgon Formation coal resource lies beneath the marine carbonates of the Seaspray Group in the Seaspray Depression, and extends offshore for up to 27 km to the Barracouta structure (Holdgate, 1984). Here a number of seams aggregate up to 150 m of coal in places, but little is known of their quality as the limestone cover is 300 to 700 m thick. The Traralgon Formation seams contain, with some exceptions, the lowest moisture content (average 55%) for Gippsland Basin brown coals. The few samples analysed from deeper oil wells indicate similar coal qualities are higher in rank (i.e. bed moisture content is around 30%) (Holdgate et al., 2000). This resource is estimated to be in excess of the combined resources of brown coal without limestone cover, but the significant overburden precludes future development.

Morwell Formation

The Morwell Formation consists of a complex unit of thick coal seams and lesser clay-sand sequences, which disconformably overlies the Traralgon Formation in the Latrobe Valley Depression. The Morwell Formation, and similar aged Alberton Formation in the Yarram area, are confined to that part of the onshore Gippsland Basin west of the sand barriers (Balook Formation), which mark the predominant maximum point of marine transgression for the Seaspray Group (Figure 5). The Morwell Formation extends across the Latrobe Valley Depression and grades into the Thorpdale Volcanics in the Moe Swamp Basin and on the Narracan Block (Holdgate, 2003).

Both the Morwell and Alberton formations are dated late Oligocene to early Miocene by spore-pollen. The oldest Morwell 2 Seam attains a maximum thickness of 140 m in the area between Yallourn and Glengarry but here it is usually overlain by younger coal-poor Morwell Formation units and the Yallourn Formation. However, it does occur in a narrow subcrop where it has been uplifted along the Yallourn Monocline (Figure 5). The now defunct open-cut mines of Yallourn North and Yallourn North Extension are located along this monocline. The seam in this area is known as the Latrobe Seam because it includes a limited component of the Morwell 1B Seam. Elsewhere there is interseam separation between Morwell 1B and Morwell 2 seams so that the term Latrobe Seam has only local significance (Holdgate, 2003).

The Morwell 2 Seam thins to the south and west where it is replaced by sediments and volcanic rocks. At Morwell it is only about 40 m thick. On the Loy Yang Dome (Figure 5), a second area of thickening of the total coal seam interval occurs and three splits of the Morwell 2 Seam are known as the Morwell 2A, 2B and 2C seams. Here they aggregate over 80 m of coal. In 1982, open-cut development commenced at Loy Yang at the subcrop of the Morwell 2A and Morwell 2B seams. The Morwell 2 seams extend as far as Gormandale and Rosedale; east of which they grade into the sand-rich Balook Formation of the Seaspray Group (Holdgate, 2003).

The Morwell 1B Seam conformably overlies the Morwell 2 Seam usually with an interseam separation of clay and minor sand varying between 2 and 30 m. The Morwell 1B has wider extent and overall greater thickness than any other seam in the Latrobe Valley Depression, covering some 650 km2 mostly south of the Latrobe River. In the Loy Yang Dome area between Traralgon Creek and the Rosedale Monocline the Morwell 1B reaches a maximum thickness between 100 and 120 m. Other major depocentres for this seam occur between Yinnar and Morwell Township and at the Flynn area (Figure 8).

East of Rosedale, the Morwell 1B Seam grades into barrier sands of the Balook Formation, north of the Latrobe River into clays and minor sands, and west of the Yallourn Monocline into interbedded sediments, lavas and tuffs of the Thorpdale Volcanics. The Morwell 1B and overlying Morwell 1A seams combine in the Morwell-Driffield area as the Morwell 1 Seam, which is up to 165 m thick. On the western flank of the Loy Yang Dome the Morwell 1A, 1B and 2 seams all combine producing up to 230 m of continuous low ash coal (Holdgate, 2003).

The upper coal seam of the Morwell Formation, the Morwell 1A Seam, is up to 80 m thick in places where it is currently mined (e.g. at Loy Yang and Hazelwood). Elsewhere, both the areal extent and thickness of coal are reduced compared to the Morwell 1B Seam, and mostly replaced by 80 m thick sequences of interbedded clays, ligneous clays and minor coal bands, as occurs in the Traralgon Syncline and the area from Yallourn to Glengarry. East of Rosedale the Morwell 1A Seam grades laterally into Seaspray Group barrier sands of the Balook Formation (Holdgate, 2003).

Alberton Coal Measures

The Alberton Coal Measures at Alberton and Gelliondale (Figure 5) is not directly connected with the Morwell Formation due to uplift and erosion on the intervening Baragwanath Anticline (Holdgate, 2003). However, it is of the same spore-pollen age. The unit also grades eastwards into an equivalent barrier sand sequence (the Balook Formation), which strikes northwards across the centre of the Seaspray and Alberton depressions (Figure 5).

Yallourn Formation

The Yallourn Formation is the youngest and uppermost coal-bearing formation in the Latrobe Valley and is dated by spore-pollen as middle Miocene age. In a similar manner to the Morwell Formation, which it conformably overlies, the Yallourn Formation grades laterally eastwards into barrier sands (the Balook Formation) of the Seaspray Group. The formation consists mainly of the Yallourn Seam, although in the deeper synclines it may include up to 200 m of clay above the coal seam. Where the underlying Morwell 1A Seam is fully developed, the two seams are separated by interseam burden known locally as the Yallourn clay that can be up to 5 m thick (Holdgate, 2003).

In the Moe Swamp Basin, west of Moe (Figure 5), an unconnected coal-bearing sequence of equivalent age is known as the Yarragon Formation (Holdgate, 1985a). Coal seams equivalent to the Yallourn Formation have not been recorded at Alberton and Gelliondale but ligneous clays overlying the Alberton Coal Measures contain the same spore-pollen assemblages.

The extent of the Yallourn Seam in the Latrobe Valley Depression has been subsequently modified by late Miocene erosion to a greater extent than for the deeper coal seams. Isopachs suggest that most developments of the seam occurred in the Maryvale East and Yallourn areas (Figure 8) where a continuous seam up to 100 m in thickness occurs (Figure 5). Elsewhere, seams greater than 40 m are restricted to south of the Latrobe River up to the edge of the Loy Yang Dome, and down the Traralgon Syncline as far south as Churchill and Yinnar. The seam grades laterally into clays north-east of Tyers and south-east of Yinnar. In most other areas, the seam edges are determined by the subcrop. In the Moe Swamp Basin, the Yarragon Formation includes coal seams including an upper A seam 15 m thick and a lower B seam 36 m thick. Westwards at Yarragon, similar coal seams overlie Thorpdale Volcanics (Fraser, 1983; Holdgate, 1985a).

Because of its younger age and shallow depth of burial, the Yallourn Seam averages 65 to 67% moisture content where it is mined at Yallourn open-cut. In the Traralgon and Latrobe synclines the seam can be buried by up to 200 m of younger Yallourn and Haunted Hill formation clays, and as a consequence its moisture may reduce to 60%. About 550 km2 of the Latrobe Valley Depression is occupied by the Yallourn Seam.

Coalfield areas

There are 28 defined brown coalfields in the Latrobe Valley, Seaspray and Gelliondale-Alberton depressions (Table 4, Figure 8). This section focuses on the five main coalfield areas where current mining activity and the two most advanced coal resource development proposals are located.

Figure 8

Figure 8 The 28 brown coalfields in the Gippsland Basin bioregion

Data: Victoria Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI) (Dataset 5)

The active Yallourn and Hazelwood open-cut mines lie within the Yallourn - Morwell coalfield. Loy Yang Mine is within the Loy Yang - Flynn coalfield. Ignite Energy Resources Limited’s (IER) Gelliondale project (IER, 2015) involves the development of the Gelliondale coalfield and IER’s biogenic CSG project is within the Seaspray Depression so includes the Stradbroke, Holey Plains, Coolungoolun and Longford coalfields. The location of these coalfields is shown in Figure 5 and Figure 8. The three mining operations and the two development proposals are further discussed in Section 1.2.2 and Section 1.2.3 .

Table 4 Brown coalfields within the Gippsland Basin bioregion


Name

Coal age

Stratigraphic unit(s)

Alberton East

early Oligocene to early Miocene

Alberton Formation

Boodyarn

middle to late Eocene

Traralgon Formation

Churchill

early to middle Miocene

Yallourn and Morwell formations

Churchill North

early to middle Miocene

Yallourn and Morwell formations

Coalville

Early Cretaceous

Strzelecki Group

Coolungoolun

middle to late Eocene

Traralgon Formation

Corridor

early to middle Miocene

Yallourn and Morwell formations

Driffield

early Oligocene to late Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Driffield East

early Oligocene to late Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Fernbank

middle Eocene to late Miocene

Latrobe Valley Group

Flynn

middle Eocene to late Miocene

Latrobe Valley Group

Gelliondale

early Oligocene to early Miocene

Alberton Formation

Gormandale

middle Eocene to late Oligocene

Traralgon and Morwell formations

Greenmount

middle to late Eocene

Traralgon Formation

Hazelwood Mine

early Oligocene to late Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Latrobe River

early Oligocene to late Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Longford

middle to late Eocene

Traralgon Formation

Loy Yang East

middle Eocene to late Miocene

Latrobe Valley Group

Loy Yang Mine

middle Eocene to late Miocene

Latrobe Valley Group

Maryvale East

early Oligocene to late Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Morwell Township

early Oligocene to late Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Rosedale

early Miocene to middle Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Stradbroke

middle to late Eocene

Traralgon Formation

Traralgon Creek

middle Eocene to late Miocene

Latrobe Valley Group

Tyers

middle Miocene

Yallourn Formation

Won Wron

middle to late Eocene

Traralgon Formation

Yallourn Mine

early Oligocene to late Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Yinnar

early Miocene to middle Miocene

Morwell and Yallourn formations

Data: GHD (2007)

Yallourn – Morwell

Apart from Loy Yang all of the open-cut mines so far developed in the Latrobe Valley are located in the Yallourn – Morwell area. All the coal being excavated is from seams of the Yallourn and Morwell formations.

The Latrobe Seam (mainly Morwell 2) subcrops on the upthrown side of the Yallourn Monocline north of the Latrobe River. Development by open-cut occurs at three separate locations. Yallourn North, discovered in 1879, became the location for the first major development of brown coal in the Latrobe Valley, some 18 Mt of coal had been excavated up until 1963 when it closed. Similar quality coal was then won from the somewhat larger Yallourn North Extension open-cut, some 5 km further east. These small deposits contain lower moisture content (48 to 54%) and hence relatively higher net wet specific energy (10.5 to 12.4 MJ/kg) (Gloe, 1984).

The Yallourn open-cut located south of the Latrobe River is based on Yallourn Seam coal. The mean thickness of coal is 60 m with an operational coal-to-overburden ratio of around 3.5:1. Up to June 1986, 530.7 Mt of coal had been won from this, the first major open-cut operated by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV). All the coal mined has been used for electric power generation purposes or for the manufacture of briquettes. Currently Yallourn open-cut has moved east and south-east of the old Morwell River site and is mining the Yallourn East Field.

From the Yallourn open-cut area, the Yallourn Seam extends eastwards across the Morwell River as far as Glengarry and southwards into the Maryvale field area where future development is planned (see Section 1.2.3 for further details about development at the Yallourn Mine). The Yallourn Seam underlies the whole Morwell township area as far as the northern boundary of Morwell open-cut.

The Morwell open-cut is based on the thick Morwell 1 (Morwell 1A plus Morwell 1B) Seam, which reaches a maximum thickness of 165 m beneath Morwell township. Within the area of the planned development of Morwell open-cut, coal thicknesses range from 135 m in the north to 50 m in the south – reflecting the northerly dip of the base of the seam and the flat erosion surface of the top of coal beneath a thin layer of overburden. The overall average coal-to-overburden ratio is 4.1:1 and up until June 1986, a total of 293.7 Mt of coal had been won.

The coal from Morwell open-cut was found to be unsuitable for briquetting and has been used almost entirely for power generation purposes. Some 12,500 Mt of coal has been proved in the Yallourn – Morwell area, but the presence of towns, transport corridors, national parks and other constraints, reduces the quantity presently available for mining.

Loy Yang – Flynn

The Loy Yang Dome includes the Loy Yang open-cut development area and a further easterly extension into the Flynn field. Several other fringe areas could also be developed including the Traralgon Creek area south to Churchill, and south of Flynn field into the Flynns Creek Syncline and flanks of the Rosedale Monocline (Figure 5).

On the Loy Yang Dome the Yallourn and Morwell formations are underlain by the Traralgon Formation that includes the thick Traralgon 0 (T0) and Traralgon 1 (T1) seams. The Loy Yang Dome is the dominant structure in the area and the coal seams dip at a low angle towards the north.

Both the Yallourn and Morwell formations contain uniformly thick seams over much of the fields where interseam sediments are either thin or absent. Up to 230 m of continuous low ash yield coal has been proven. All seams, in general, consist of low ash coals of excellent quality with a mean moisture content of 63%. This is intermediate between those for Yallourn (66%) and Morwell (60%) seam coals as currently mined.

The Traralgon 0 and Traralgon 1 seams are intersected some 60 m below the base of the Morwell 2 Seam. The seam thickness is up to 60 m and the coal is also of good quality with a moisture content of 58%.

Total measured economic reserves of coal on the low dipping northern flanks of the Loy Yang Dome are 7000 Mt with a further 4400 Mt within the adjacent fringe areas. The Loy Yang and Flynn open-cut areas could recover 3400 Mt with coal-to-overburden ratios of about 4:1.

Holey Plains, Coolungoolun and Longford Dome

In the central and eastern portion of the Baragwanath Anticline only seams of the Traralgon Formation occur. The main seam is the Traralgon 2 Seam that is up to 45 m, while the Traralgon 1 seam reaches up to 33 m in thickness. In the Holey Plains area 1000 Mt of economic coal are vertically overlain by 1400 million m3 of sandy overburden and interburden (Gloe et al., 1988). In the Coolungoolun area, the values are 300 Mt and 400 million m3 respectively, and at Longford, 164 Mt and 300 million m3 respectively. These coals are the highest rank coals in the Latrobe Valley with moisture contents of 49% to 56% and specific energy values of 28 to 29 MJ/kg on a dry ash basis. Ash yields are low averaging 2.6% to 3.1% (dry basis) but sulfur contents are high averaging up to 5.8% (dry basis).

Currently there are no plans for open-cut development in these areas, some parts of which underlie the Holey Plains National Park and parts under Longford township.

Stradbroke

This coalfield (Figure 5) consists of high quality brown coal comprising the Traralgon 1 and Traralgon 2 seams. The seams dip gently east (Thompson, 1979) and are overlain to the east by the Cenozoic marine marls of the Seaspray Group and Haunted Hill Formation to the west.

The coal in the Traralgon Seam reaches a maximum thickness of 136 m. The quality is good with a generally low ash yield (3.9% dry basis), a relatively low moisture content (58.4%) and high net wet specific energy (9.6 MJ/kg). As with all Traralgon Seam coals in this general area, sulfur contents are higher (averaging 3.1% dry basis) than those of the Latrobe Valley coals. The Stradbroke Field was examined by the Victorian Brown Coal Council (VBCC) in 1981 to 1982 as a development option for a coal-to-liquids plant; and in 2005 by IER who carried out further drilling that defined a measured and indicated coal reserve of 2580 Mt (Thompson, 1979; VBCC, 1983).

Gelliondale

The Gelliondale Seam forms the main thick coal seam in the Gelliondale field, occurring either as one seam (50 m or more thick) or as two splits (Greer and Smith, 1982). A younger Alberton Seam occurs to the east of the field and is designated as an upper split of the Gelliondale Seam.

Structurally, the Cenozoic coal measures are considered to be drape folded over fault blocks of the Lower Cretaceous Strzelecki Group, forming a series of anticlinal ridges and synclinal troughs. A large anticlinal structure known as the Hedley Dome runs approximately east–west through the centre of the field. Some faulting is indicated from drill-hole data.

The mean moisture content of the coal (66%) and net wet specific energy value (6.8 MJ/kg) are similar to those of the Yallourn Seam at Yallourn. However, the ash yield (63% dry basis) and sulfur content (0.9% dry basis) are somewhat higher.

The indicated and inferred coal resource within the Gelliondale Coalfield is estimated as 5200 Mt (1700 Mt indicated and 3500 Mt inferred) (GHD, 2007). Of these, 1050 Mt are considered to be economically recoverable.

Ignite Energy Resources Limited (IER) has the exploration licence (EL 4416) which includes the Gelliondale coalfield. IER have preliminary development plans to potentially mine, upgrade and export the brown coal from Gelliondale, as discussed in Section 1.2.3.1.4 (IER, 2015). In June 2015 IER were granted a retention licence (RL 2013) over the Gelliondale brown coal resource.

Coal quality

Victoria’s lignite is typically low in ash, sulfur, heavy metals and nitrogen, making it very low in impurities by world standards.

In the Latrobe Valley, the ash yield is usually 1 to 4% on a dry basis. Minerals such as quartz, kaolinite, and iron account for up to half the ash-forming constituents (Gloe, 1984). Inorganics such as organically-bound cations and dissolved salts of sodium and magnesium (as chlorides) tend to be higher in the main coal depocentres.

In all Gippsland coals, organic sulfur tends to increase towards the marine barrier system as documented at Stradbroke (Thompson, 1980), Holey Plains – Coolungoolun (Holdgate, 1980), Alberton (Holdgate, 1982) and the Latrobe Valley (Holdgate, 1985b; Kiss et al., 1985). Where marine sediments overlie coal seams of the Traralgon Formation, the sulfur content tends to be higher in the uppermost seam suggesting that stratigraphic proximity controls sulfur content (Holdgate, 1980). In the Latrobe Valley, marine incursions represented by a mud and silt interseam facies within the Morwell Formation have tended to increase sulfur levels in the coal seams immediately underlying these inter-seams (Holdgate and Sluiter, 1991).

The high moisture content of brown coal from Gippsland, which ranges from 48 to 70%, reduces its effective energy content (average 8.6 MJ/kg on a net wet basis or 26.6 MJ/kg on a gross dry basis). The high water content and reactivity of Gippsland lignite has to date precluded it from coal export. With the development of new drying, gasification and liquefaction technologies, direct export may become an option.

Estimated resources

Coal reserve and resource data has been compiled from a number of sources, and represents the present state of knowledge on economic brown coal resources in the onshore Gippsland Basin (Table 5 to Table 7). It should be noted that the definition of an economic reserve or resource varies according to mining practices. Most of the defined reserves and resources referred to here are based on the former SECV definition of brown coal reserves and their economically mineable properties. Further definitions are provided from Gloe’s (1980) report number 28 – a major SECV review of reserves, coal quantities and coal quality in the Latrobe Valley area.

Subsequent to the Gloe (1980) report, additional brown coal resources were discovered by SECV and Geological Society of Victoria drilling that include the coalfields of Stradbroke, Longford, Boodyarn, Greenmount and Alberton, all of which occur within the south Gippsland area.

Of course, none of the following resource figures in Table 5 and Table 6 takes into account the geographic or cultural features that affect mine design because the influence of these factors may change and is impossible to predict. Features such as land use, national parks, river diversions, floodplains, towns, roads, open-cut operating practices, designs and operating strips all effect the ultimate reserve accessible and recoverable for mining.

A complete list of the published brown coal resource estimates for the Gippsland Basin is given in Table 8 . There are some significant differences in the resource estimates from various different sources. Investigating the reasons for these differences is not within scope of this product but the estimates are included here for reference. The sources of the estimates are listed in Table 8 .

The following data in Table 5 on resource figures and coal quantities is derived from the Gloe (1980) data for areas going from west to east across the Latrobe Valley. The remaining coalfield resources are compiled in Table 6 from other later published data as referenced. This includes the coalfield areas of Stradbroke, Longford, Boodyarn, Won Wron, Greenmount, Alberton and Gelliondale. Table 7 is an estimate of the Traralgon coal seam resource within the Gippsland Basin. These are included because they have recently been targeted as a source of CSG.

Table 5 Estimates of brown coal resources for Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland Basin (original quantities in place as at 1 July 1979)


Field

Seam

Measured

(Mt)

Indicated

(Mt)

Total

(Mt)

Economic

(Mt)

Recoverable

(Mt)

Yallourn-

Morwell

Yallourn

6,820

NA

6,820

6,416

2,800

Morwell 1

3,583

2,658

16,511

7,351

5,330

All

20,573a

2,658

23,331a

13,757a

6,130a

Loy Yang

Yallourn

1,859

2,318

4,172

1,515

NA

Morwell

14,653

6,342

20,995

8,052

4,700b

Traralgon

4,820

256

5,076

1,939

NA

All

21,332

8,916

30,248

11,506

4,700

Gormandale

Morwell

306

NA

306

33

NA

Traralgon

3,944

NA

3,944

2,084

600

All

4,250

NA

4,250

2,117

600

Holey Plains

Traralgon

2,439

NA

2,439

1,297

200

Rosedale

Yallourn

305

NA

305

220

NA

Morwell

1,076

NA

1,076

953

NA

All

1,381

NA

1,381

1,173

NA

Traralgon

Syncline

Yallourn

3,827

5,498

9,325

2,778

NA

Morwell

5,314

14,320

19,634

2,177

NA

Traralgon

NA

976

976

NA

NA

All

9,141

20,794

29,935

4,965

NA

Other areas

Latrobe

Valley

Yallourn

194

3,067

3,261

307

NA

Morwell

1,419

4,284

5,703

508

NA

Traralgon

4,094

3,205

7,299

939

NA

All

5,707

10,556

16,263

11,063

NA

All Latrobe

Valley

Yallourn

13,005

16,883

23,888

11,063

2,800

Morwell

36,521

27,604

64,225

18,863

8,030b

Traralgon

15,297

4,437

15,734

828

800

All

64,923a

42,924

107,847a

35,754c

116,300a

aIncludes 625 Mt excavated to 1 July 1979

bIncludes some Yallourn Seam coal

cIncludes 625 Mt excavated to 1 July 1979 and about 5000 Mt under Latrobe Valley townships, storage dams, etc, and about 1000 Mt under APM Mill area

Data: Gloe (1980)

Table 6 Summary of the brown coal resources of the Gippsland Basin


Area

Quantity (Mt)

Latrobe Valley Depression

158,026

Moe-Yarragon

773

Stradbroke

3,700

Won Wron – Boodyarn

288

Alberton

4,887

Gelliondale

5,200

Total Gippsland Basin

172,874

Data: Holdgate (2003)

Table 7 Total inferred Traralgon Formation brown coal resources for the Gippsland Basin – mainly Exploration Licence 4416


Traralgon Seam

Limits

Coal

(Mt)

T2 coal seams (5)

No overburden limits

98,002

T1+T0 coal seams (5)

No overburden limits

247,379

Total all T seams

Includes measured coal reserves

345,381

Data: Holdgate et al. (2000)

Table 8 Gippsland Basin brown coal resource estimates


Name

Total coal (Mt)

Resource classification

References for data

Date of estimates

Alberton East

4,890

Indicated

GHD (2007)

1986

Alberton East

3,455

Inferred

VBCC (1983)

1982

Alberton East

3,271.8

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Alberton East

4,890

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

APM Mill

3,347.8

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Boodyarn

276

In Situ Quantity (Mt)

GHD (2007)

1986

Boodyarn

251

Inferred

VBCC (1983)

1982

Boodyarn

524.4

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Boodyarn

270

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Boolarra

part 100,000

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Budgeree

230

Inferred

VBCC (1983)

1982

Budgeree

437

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Churchill

100

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Churchill

7767.2

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2000

Churchill

100

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Churchill North

100

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Churchill North

100

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Coalville

part 100,000

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Coolungoolun

4,370

Indicated

GHD (2007)

1986

Coolungoolun

1,072

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Coolungoolun

1,929.6

Probable

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Coolungoolun

1,300

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Corridor

2,200

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Corridor

2,200

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Driffield

520

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Driffield

520

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Driffield East

400

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Driffield East

400

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Driffield-Narracan

5,566

Measured

VBCC (1983)

1982

Driffield-Narracan

10,575.4

Measured

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

East Gippsland ^

221,000

In Situ Quantity (Mt)

GHD (2007)

2003

Fernbank

1,500

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Fernbank

1,075.4

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Fernbank

1,500

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Flynn

4,500

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Flynn

4,500

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Flynn 1

2,718.9

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2003

Flynn 2

6,644.3

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2003

Flynn Railway Station

3,000

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Flynn Railway Station

5,700

Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Flynns Creek

4,928.6

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2003

Gelliondale

3,500

Inferred

GHD (2007)

2003

Gelliondale

1,700

Indicated

GHD (2007)

2003

Gelliondale

2,976

Measured/Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Gelliondale

5,662

Indicated (532 Mt measured)

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2010

Gelliondale

5,200

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Gippsland (Fringe Areas)

147,500

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Gormandale

2,120

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

unknown

Gormandale

3,100

Measured/Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Gormandale

4,600

Measured

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2010

Gormandale

1,100

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Greenmount

500

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Hazelwood

8,882

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Hazelwood Mine

420

Proven & Probable Reserves

GHD (2007)

2006

Hazelwood Mine

3,429.7

Measured

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2001

Hazelwood Mine

500

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Hazelwood-Yinnar

22,251

Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Holey Plains

3,295

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Holey Plains

8,297.3

Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Latrobe River

500

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Latrobe River

500

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Latrobe Valley

65,000

Measured

GHD (2007)

2003

Latrobe Valley

158,000

In Situ

GHD (2007)

2003

Latrobe Valley

43,000

Indicated

GHD (2007)

2003

Latrobe Valley

50,000

Inferred

GHD (2007)

2003

Latrobe Valley

549.1

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2013

Loy Yang

17,660

Measured/Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Loy Yang East

2,500

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Loy Yang East

2,500

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Loy Yang Extended

1,500

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Loy Yang Mine

1,740

Proven & Probable Reserves

GHD (2007)

2006

Loy Yang Mine

1,400

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Loy Yang Mine

2,000

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Maryvale

10,053

Measured

VBBC (1983)

1982

Maryvale

18,922.3

Measured

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Maryvale East

4,700

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Maryvale East

4,700

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Moe Swamp

460

Inferred

GHD (2007)

2005

Moe Swamp

110

Indicated

GHD (2007)

2005

Moe Swamp Basin

1,088.7

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2012

Moe Swamp EL 4877

125

Inferred

Greenpower Energy (2012)

2012

Moe Swamp Gippsland EL4500

581.4

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2012

Moe Swamp Gippsland EL4500

306

Inferred

Greenpower Energy (2012)

2012

Moe Swamp EL5227

136

Inferred

Greenpower Energy (2012)

2012

Moe-Yarragon

773

Indicated

GHD (2007)

2003

Morwell M1

1,651

Measured

VBCC (1983)

1982

Morwell M2

584

Measured

VBCC (1983)

1982

Morwell Township

4,400

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Morwell Township

4,400

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Rosedale

1,800

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Rosedale

9,300

Measured/Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Rosedale

3,393.4

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Rosedale

1,800

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Stradbroke

2,400

Measured

GHD (2007)

2005

Stradbroke

1,300

Inferred

GHD (2007)

2005

Stradbroke

3,700

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Stradbroke

4,902

Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2010

Stradbroke

3,700

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Traralgon

5,919

Measured/Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Traralgon

11,246.1

Measured plus Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Traralgon Creek

5,300

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Traralgon Creek

5,300

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Tyers

1,300

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Tyers

1,300

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Tyers South

3,473.2

Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Tyers South

1,826

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Victorian Inferior Coals

3,543.5

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Willung

2,596

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Willung

4,932.4

Indicated

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Won Wron

12

In Situ Quantity (Mt)

GHD (2007)

1986

Won Wron

12

Measured

VBCC (1983)

1982

Won Wron

22.8

Measured

Geoscience Australia (2015)

1982

Won Wron

120

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Won Wron - Boodyarn

288

Indicated

GHD (2007)

2003

Yallourn Mine

463

Proven Probable Reserves

GHD (2007)

2006

Yallourn Mine

3,320

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Yallourn Mine

460

Economic

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Yallourn open-cut

430

Measured

VBCC (1983)

1982

Yarragon

200

Inferred

GHD (2007)

1986

Yarragon

258.4

Inferred

Geoscience Australia (2015)

2012

Yarragon EL 5210

289

Inferred

Mantle Mining (2013)

2013

Yinnar

1,000

Potential Economic Resource

GHD (2007)

2005

Yinnar

2,860

Indicated

VBCC (1983)

1982

Yinnar

1,000

In Situ

Waghorne (2005)

2005

Last updated:
8 January 2019
Thumbnail of the Gippsland bioregion

Product Finalisation date

2016