1.2.2.1 Coal


Section 1.2.2.1 includes all the currently operating coal mines. For a development to be considered current, commercial production for that particular mine needs to have commenced prior to December 2012.

Table 3 Active mines in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion showing mine name, mine ownership and coal production (million tonnes per annum (Mt/year))


Mine name

Company

Annual production (Mt/year)

Commodore

InterGen Australia and Marubeni Corporation

3.6

New Acland

New Hope Group

7.4

Kogan Creek

Abadare Collieries Pty Ltd

2.8

Cameby Downs

Yancoal Australia Ltd

1.4

At present, four coal open-cut mines are in operation in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion (Table 3, Figure 4): Commodore, New Acland, Kogan Creek and Cameby Downs. All operating mines are in the east of the subregion. Wilkie Creek Coal Mine (owned by the American corporation Peabody Energy, Inc), is listed as an operating mine in the Queensland Government Interactive Resource and Tenure Maps (IRTM) system at the time data were gathered, but ceased coal production in December 2013 (Peabody Energy, 2013) and IRTM are not updated frequently, so provided a slightly out-of-date dataset. Activities only for closure of the mine are now taking place at the Wilkie Creek Coal Mine. For this reason Wilkie Creek Coal Mine has not been discussed further here. The IRTM does not report Cameby Downs Mine as being active. Cameby Downs has multiple leases listed as future plans in the IRTM, but at Mining Lease (ML) 50233 mining operations are current. Cameby Downs (ML 50233) is discussed as an active mine.

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a process that converts coal into gas and liquids in situ via controlled partial combustion. UCG is considered to be coal mining by the Queensland Government, and although it is out of scope for the bioregional assessments, it is discussed briefly for the sake of completeness. There are two UCG projects in the subregion:

  1. Bloodwood Creek is the pilot site for Carbon Energy’s first trial to commercialise its proprietary UCG ‘keyseam®’ technology. The Bloodwood Creek pilot project has operated since October 2008 in Mining Lease Application (MLA) 50253. Bloodwood Creek is currently in its decommissioning phase, and the technology is being assessed for environmental sustainability. In July 2013, an independent scientific panel concluded that UCG could, in principle, be conducted in a manner that is socially and environmentally acceptable and safe, but that there must first be a demonstration that acceptable decommissioning (DNRM, 2013) and effective risk based planning for rehabilitation of underground facilities can be achieved before commercial UCG operations in Queensland could be approved.
  2. Linc Energy has operated an UCG demonstration project at their Hopeland No 1 (MLA 50242 and Mineral Development Licence (MDL) 309) site 20 km south-west of Chinchilla since 1999 (Linc Energy, 2007). In 1999, Linc Energy commenced five generations of UCG design tests that continued over 14 years, where coal seams at depths of 120 m below the surface were gasified. In November 2013, Linc Energy announced that the successful completion of testing marked the conclusion of the development at Chinchilla, and that the site will move into its final phase of site decommissioning and remediation, during which time further studies would be undertaken to enhance knowledge in that phase (Linc Energy, 2013). The operation ceased in 2013 (Linc Energy, 2013, p. 2).

Last updated:
5 January 2018
Thumbnail of the Maranoa-Baloone-Condamine subregion

Product Finalisation date

2014
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