On 31 March 2025, Whitehaven Coal Ltd. completed its sale of a 20% and 10% joint venture interest in the Blackwater coal mine to Nippon Steel Corporation and JFE Steel Corporation respectively.
| Contractor | Contract | Description | Ref. Date | Expiry | Source |
|
BUMA Australia
|
Mining
|
On April 17 2024, BUMA Australia signed a new contract with Whitehaven Coal, the new owner of the Blackwater mine.
BUMA Australia will continue to provide pre-strip mining services at Blackwater Mine in Central Queensland until June 2026.
|
Apr 17, 2024
|
2026
|
|
Summary:
Bituminous coal is mined from the Permian Moranbah and Rangal Coal measures. Products range from premium quality, low volatile, high vitrinite, hard coking coal to medium volatile hard coking coal, to weak coking coal, some pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal and medium ash thermal coal as a secondary product.
Rangal Coal Measures of Late Permian age, dipping 3-5° to the east. Three major coal seams are present: Top (Aries) - 0.8-1.5m; Middle (Castor) - 2-3.5m; Main Lower (Taurus/Argo) - 5-7m. Complex seam splitting occurs along the 35km strike length of the mine.
Reserves at July 31, 2025
Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineral Reserves.
| Category | Ore Type | Tonnage | Commodity | Marketable Coal |
|
Proven
|
Total
|
100 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
88 Mt
|
|
Probable
|
Total
|
91 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
80 Mt
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
Total
|
191 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
169 Mt
|
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
288 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
|
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
528 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
816 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
779 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
222 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
|
|
Total Resource
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
1,595 Mt
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
|
Mining Methods
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Dragline
Summary:
Mining at Blackwater is undertaken using a conventional multi-seam dragline strip methodology.
Blackwater includes 8 separate pits within its operation with the largest dragline fleet in the southern hemisphere.
Draglines are employed in multiple simultaneous pits along strike in conjunction with a large fleet of trucks, electric rope shovels, hydraulic excavators and dozers. A separate contract fleet supports pre-strip activities.
Whiteheaven is planning to open up additional mining areas in the south to provide greater flexibility and improve dragline performance.
Blackwater has capacity to pursue expansion options considered in LOM plan.
Blackwater asset improvement (2023) includes:
- Optimisation of existing dragline sequence and pre-strip to allow access to latent dragline capacity;
- Increasing of dozer push volumes.
In FY2025 following the rebuild of blasted inventory levels, the work to rebuild pre-strip inventories continues to progress.
Heavy Mobile Equipment
| HME Type | Model | Quantity | Leased or
Contractor | Ref. Date | Source |
|
Dozer (crawler)
|
Caterpillar D10
|
4
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Dozer (crawler)
|
Caterpillar D11
|
5
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Dragline
|
|
7
|
|
Oct 31, 2023
|
|
|
Excavator
|
Hitachi EX8000
|
1
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Excavator
|
Hitachi EX3600
|
1
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Excavator
|
Caterpillar 6060
|
3
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Grader
|
Caterpillar 16M
|
1
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Grader
|
Caterpillar 18M
|
3
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Truck (haul)
|
Komatsu 930E
|
13
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Truck (haul)
|
Caterpillar 789
|
15
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
|
Truck (water)
|
Caterpillar 785
|
4
|
|
Sep 26, 2025
|
|
Comminution
Crushers and Mills
Milling equipment has not been reported.
Summary:
Impurities are removed through washing and treatment at a coal handling and preparation plant. Coal is then transported by train to port, loaded onto ships and exported to customers.
Blackwater mine produces high quality metallurgical coal for the seaborne export market:
– low-ash (8.5-9.5%),
- low-sulphur (0.40-0.42%),
- metallurgical coal (HCC, SSCC),
– export quality thermal coal.
Summary:
At Blackwater, Whitehaven's water allocation licence is 2,281 ML.
Commodity Production
| Commodity | Units | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|
Coal (thermal)
|
t
| 550,892 | 251,464 | | | | | | | | | |
|
Coal (coking)
|
t
| 10,463,775 | 9,850,576 | | | | | | | | | |
|
Coal (metallurgical & thermal)
|
kt
| | | 10,110 | 11,668 | 12,448 | 11,090 | 13,206 | 13,376 | 14,592 | 15,252 | 13,988 |
All production numbers are expressed as clean coal.
Operational metrics
| Metrics | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|
Coal tonnes mined
| 14,179,661 t | 12,569,179 t | 12,510,615 t | 14,288,329 t | 15,216,273 t | 12,893,485 t | 15,261,759 t | 13,678,878 t | 16,581,448 t | 16,524,952 t |
|
Tonnes processed
| 13,430,907 t | 12,657,363 t | 12,675,240 t | 13,574,663 t | 14,455,742 t | 12,744,977 t | 15,262,320 t | 14,598,569 t | 16,097,035 t | 16,277,870 t |
Production Costs
Commodity production costs have not been reported.
Personnel
| Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
|
CHPP Maintenance Superintendent
|
Grant Collins
|
|
Sep 27, 2025
|
|
General Manager
|
Tod Mathews
|
|
Sep 27, 2025
|
|
Maintenance Manager
|
Ed Cleary
|
|
Sep 27, 2025
|
|
Mine Scheduling Superintendent
|
Peter Rodrigues
|
|
Sep 27, 2025
|
|
Regional General Manager
|
Dan Iliffe
|
|
Sep 27, 2025
|
| Total Workforce | Year |
|
2,000
|
2025
|
|
2,000
|
2024
|
|
2,803
|
2023
|
|
1,554
|
2022
|
|
1,554
|
2021
|
|
1,554
|
2020
|
|
369
|
2017
|
|
910
|
2016
|