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Australia

Middlemount Mine

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Australia

Middlemount Mine

Location: 7 km W from Middlemount, Queensland, Australia

Address:

Dysart Road Middlemount
PO Box 24
Middlemount
Queensland, Australia
4746

Contacts:

Additional Resources for Suppliers & Investors

Categories

Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Coal (metallurgical)
  • Coal (thermal)
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotThe Middlemount mine predominantly produces semi-hard coking coal and low-volatile pulverized coal injection (LV PCI) coal.

The Southern Extension Project involves extension of operations at the Middlemount Coal Mine to the south and extension of waste rock emplacement areas.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Yancoal Australia, Ltd. 49.997 % Indirect
Peabody Energy, Inc. 50.003 % Indirect
Middlemount Coal Pty Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Middlemount Coal Pty Ltd (Middlemount) is an incorporated joint venture between Peabody Energy Australia Pty Ltd (50.003 % interest through Peabody Custom Mining Pty Ltd) and Yancoal Australia Ltd (49.997% interest through Gloucester (SPV) Pty Ltd).

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

The Middlemount resource contains the coal seams of the Rangal Coal Measures and Burngrove Formation of the Blackwater Group. The target seams within the resource consist of the Roper, Middlemount, Tralee and Pisces Upper seams (in descending order) which belong to the Rangal Coal Measures, while the Pisces Lower and Girrah seams belong to the Burngrove Formation and are not considered to have economic potential based on current studies.

Overlying the Rangal Coal Measures are alluvial sediments, inferred to be Tertiary in age, with a thickness of up to 30m. The depth of weathering averages 45m, ranging from 20m in the southeast to over 60m in the central and northern areas of ML70379.

The Middlemount and Pisces seams have been subjected to the majority of the exploration mining works. The Middlemount seam averages 4.0m thick in the area west of the Jellinbah Fault, ranging from less than 2 to over 7m. The Middlemount Upper working section is a high ash section that is present over most of the Middlemount area – the exception is in the north, where it is less than 0.3m thick. The top section of the Middlemount Lower Section is predominantly dull with some bright banded coal with an average raw coal CSN average of 1 to 1.5. The base section of the Middlemount seam has more bright coal than the top section and the average raw coal CSN is 4 to 5.

The Tralee seam underlies the Middlemount seam. At Middlemount, it ranges in thickness from 0.5 to 1.0m when it occurs just below the Middlemount seam (within 10m). The Tralee seam is divided into three working sections (TL1, TL2T and TL2B, top down) and similar to the Middlemount Lower seam the working section division is predominantly based on coal brightness. Where the seam splits further from the Middlemount seam, the Tralee seam thins to usually less than 0.3m.

The Pisces Upper seam averages 4.8m thick in the area west of the Jellinbah fault, ranging from 2 to over 6m. Thickening and thinning of the seams is interpreted to be the result due to the same structural effects as noted for the Middlemount seam, while intersections outside this range were similarly excluded from the coal thickness model. The Pisces Upper seam is divided into three working sections (PUT, PUM and PUB, top down) and similar to the Middlemount Lower seam the working section division is predominantly based on coal brightness.

The Middlemount Seam is stratigraphically equivalent to the Leichhardt seam or Elphinstone seam of the Northern Bowen Basin, or the Pollux Seam of the Central and Southern Bowen Basin and the DU and D seam of the south-eastern Bowen Basin at Moura. The Pisces Seam is stratigraphically equivalent to the Vermont or Hynds Seam of the Northern Bowen Basin and the E seam of the south-eastern Bowen Basin at Moura. The RPM Competent Person is familiar with the characteristics of the Middlemount and Pisces seams throughout the Bowen Basin.

The potential open cut coal area strikes north-northwest and dips to the east at between 3- and 7-degrees; the deposit is approximately 7km long and 2km wide. The resource is limited to the east by the Jellinbah Fault; a major regional thrust fault which is oriented north-northwest and has displacement greater than 300m. This fault is located close to the boundary of ML70379 and ML70417. The coal seams of the Rangal Coal Measures crop out to the west of the Jellinbah Fault, where the majority of the coal exploration has been completed. The strata present on the eastern or upthrown side of the Jellinbah Fault are from the Burngrove Formation, which are becoming visible in the highwall of the mining excavation.

Exploration drilling and mining has identified that the deposit is complicated by localised thickening of seams in the vicinity of faults. Other than the Jellinbah Fault, the deposit contains small-scale (<10m) normal and thrust faults, which is evidenced by the thickened and thinned Middlemount and Pisces seam intersections and by the changes in structural elevations between boreholes.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Coal (metallurgical & thermal) Mt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2.73.83.94.14.1
All production numbers are expressed as clean coal.

Operational metrics

Metrics2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Coal tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3.4 Mt4.8 Mt5.3 Mt5.3 Mt5.5 Mt
Waste  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Hourly processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Coal washing plant annual capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe5.4 Mt
Stripping ratio  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe10.6 bcm/t8.5 bcm/t7.5 bcm/t

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Mine Financials

Units2024202320222021202020192018
Revenue M  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 464  AUD 755  AUD
After-tax Income M  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -58  AUD 91  AUD
Book Value M  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 274  AUD 274  AUD

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
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Workforce

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2024
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Aerial view:

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