1.2.2.1.20 Moolarben

Moolarben Coal is mostly owned by Yancoal Australia (80%). The remaining 20% is owned by Sojitz Moolarben Resources Pty Ltd (10%) and the combined total 10% owned by a group of seven South Korean power companies (Moolarben, 2013a). The open-cut mine is in the Western Coalfield of the Sydney Basin, approximately 45 km north-east of Mudgee and 25 km east of Gulgong (Yancoal, 2015d, 2015e). Approval to operate was received in accordance with the Stage 1 Project Approval (05_0117) granted by the Minister for Planning on 6 September 2007 (Moolarben, 2015). Operations at the mine commenced in May 2010 (Moolarben, 2015). The Stage 1 Project Approval allowed for three open-cut mines (OC1, OC2 and OC3), one underground mine (UG4), a CHPP, raw and product coal stockpiles, a rail loop and rail loader, and office and workshop support facilities (Moolarben, 2015). Application for Stage 2 of the Moolarben Coal Project was lodged with the NSW Minister for Planning on 1 May 2008 and was approved subject to conditions on 30 January 2015 (NSW Department of Planning and Environment, 2015c). The Stage 2 Project Application comprises one open-cut (OC4), two underground coal mines (UG1 and UG2), and some additional infrastructure which would be operated in conjunction with the approved Stage 1 infrastructure (Moolarben, 2015). At full production, including open-cut and underground operations from Stage 1 and Stage 2, the Moolarben Coal Complex will have the capacity to produce 17 Mt/year of ROM coal (Moolarben, 2015). Open-cut operations use truck and shovel methods (Moolarben, 2013b, p. 12) and underground coal extraction occurs via longwall (Moolarben, 2013b, p. 3). The projected life of mine for Stage 2 is 24 years (Moolarben, 2013b, p. 39). Coal is produced from the Ulan Coal unit, which has a mean thickness of approximately 12 m throughout the deposit (Yancoal, 2015e). At December 2013 the mine had recoverable reserves totalling 313 Mt. The mine produces thermal coal products for overseas markets (Yancoal, 2015e).