Overview

Mine Type	Open Pit
Status	Active
Commodities	Coal (thermal) Coal (coking)
Mining Method	Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start	...
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	Ellensfield South Mine is a part of Burton Complex, which encompasses a series of opencut mines serving a central Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP), dedicated haul road, product stockpile facility and Train Load Out (TLO) facility. The Ellensfield South Mine continued in its box-cut development phase for the majority of the financial year, mining the first coal in August 2023 and reaching the steady-state production target during the June 2024 quarter. Coal from the Ellensfield South Mine is processed at neighbours Burton Central Handling and Processing Plant (CHPP). Bowen Coking Coal announced plans to commence development of a nearby third open cut pit at the Burton Complex during the 2025 financial year, called Plumtree North, which is planned to complement ROM coal flow as the Ellensfield South Mine is depleted in the 2025 financial year.

Deposit type

• Sedimentary

Summary:

The Burton and Lenton projects area lie within the Permo-Triassic Bowen Basin. Coal seams occur within the Rangal Coal Measures and underlying Fort Cooper Coal Measures which are Late Permian in age. The seams subcrop in the Mining Lease and generally dips at 15- 25 degrees North West at Lenton and mainly 10 to 20 degrees East at Burton with a section in the Ellensfield south pit up to 30 degrees. The main target seams are the Leichhardt and Vermont seams in the Rangal Coal Measures.

The seams split and coalesce significantly along the strike of the deposit. Cumulative seam thickness range between 5m and 10m for all the seams. The drill hole density (core and chip) allows for a high level of confidence in seam splitting, seam thickness, coal quality and location of subcrop lines. The area is structurally complex and the base of weathering is generally between 15m and 25m.

Burton
The Burton deposit is located 120 km westsouthwest of Mackay, Queensland. The ESPN (Ellensfield South (ES), Plumtree North (PN)) deposits occur immediately south of the Burton open cut pits which were mined by Peabody until early 2017. The Isaac Pit is located north of the Isaac River. Burton Mine produced coking and thermal coal for the export market.

The ESPN deposits are located on the eastern limb of the Nebo Synclinorium and target the Rangal Coal Measures (RCM). These coal measures are laterally continuous across the Bowen basin and were mined at the Burton open pits to the north of the ESPN deposits. Underlying the RCM are the Fort Cooper Coal Measures (FCCM) and these coal measures occur within the Permian Blackwater Group. The RCM are overlain by sediments of the Triassic Rewan Group, with Cenozoic cover unconformably overlying the coal sequence.

The RCM are comprised of fine to medium grained sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and coal. They range from 120 – 150 m thick and contain the Leichhardt and Vermont seams and these seams split significantly and coalesce along the strike of the deposit.

The FCCM comprise grey lithic sandstones, siltstones, mudstones and coal. The Girrah coal seam is a thick unit that is high in ash, interbedded carbonaceous mudstones and multiple tuffaceous claystone bands.

Ellensfield is in a structurally complex area with smale scale reverse faults having been identified during drilling and seen in geophysical logs. A fault zone, that contains several large normal faults and trends east-west is present in the northern portion of Ellensfield. Coal strata dips are between15-30° to the east-northeast. Large normal faults that have been interpreted have displacements in excess of 10 m.

Plumtree is also in a structurally complex area; however, the bedding strike is south-southwest with a shallower dip ranging between 10-17°. Several reverse faults have been interpreted with displacements in excess of 10 m.

The Isaac Pit contains numerous small-scale faults with a maximum displacement of 5 m to 7 m. Currently these faults have been interpreted to trend in East-West and almost vertical. Further drilling is required to delineate the extent and scale of these interpretations. Seams dip to the eastnortheast between 9-19°.

The Ellensfield and Plumtree North deposits are split by the Teviot Creek.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Production

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Operational metrics

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Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Nov 7, 2024
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