The Aquila is planning to extract reserves from the Aquila and Aquila Lower seams, which occur in the upper part of the German Creek formation.

The German Creek alluvium is located to the south of the project longwall mining area and the Little Parrot Creek alluvium is located approximately 1.6 km north-east of the project longwall mining area. In these areas, the creeks are typically incised into the landscape exposing the underlying rock in the creek bed and banks. Where present, there is typically less than 5 m of alluvium in the creek beds. Floodplain alluvial deposits are localised to the inside of meander bends and areas where the creek is less incised. In these areas the floodplain alluvium typically ranges from a few centimetres to 4 m thick. Alluvium is not present outside this localised area of creek and floodplain deposits.

The project comprises a single longwall underground mine and supporting infrastructure. The operation will target two seams, the Aquila and Aquila Lower coal seams. The depth of the Aquila seams from the surface varies from approximately 70 metres up to 280 metres with a nominal seam height ranging from 1.8 metres to 2.2 metres.

The longwall will be supported by two continuous miner development units with ROM coal transferred from the underground development and longwall mining units via a new underground conveyor belt system to a new surface conveyor and onto an expanded ROM stockpile.

The company is progressing the development of its Aquila longwall mining project, near Middlemount, in Central Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

Currently in the planning and approvals stage, the Aquila project is a medium seam longwall operation targeting the Aquila and Aquila Lower coal seams to produce hard coking coal. It will include construction of surface infrastructure, development of longwall panels and underground infrastructure to support the operation.