The Drake Coal Project covers a complete sequence of the Moranbah Coal Measures which reach a maximum thickness of around 480m and comprise cross-bedded lithic sandstone and siltstone, mudstone and coal seams. The Moranbah Coal Measures contain seven economically viable coal seams designated as A (deepest seam), B, C, E, P, P Rider and Q. Coal seams A through Q inclusive would be mined at the Drake Coal Project at various locations. The coal seams subcrop in a north to north-east direction and dip at low angles to the east and southeast. Interburden rocks consist of quartz-poor lithic sandstones, siltstones, shale and mudstones that sub-crop in a north to north-east direction and dip at low angles to the east and south-east.

The project would be located in the northern Bowen Basin of Central Queensland, approximately 150 kilometres (km) north-west of Mackay and 17km south of the Collinsville townships in the Whitsunday Regional Council local government area. The nearest private residence to active mining areas would be the Sonoma Homestead, located 3km to the north. Nine other residences are also located within 5km of the mine. The project area is bounded by Two Mile Creek to the north, the Bowen River to the south, the Bowen Development Road to the east and grazing to the west.

Mining would be by conventional diesel powered truck and excavator methods, involving the stripping of vegetation and the removal and stockpiling of topsoil and subsoil for later use in rehabilitation. Overburden and coal would progressively be removed from ten mining pits ranging in size from 29ha to 1101ha in area and between 20 metres (m) and 140m in depth. A dozer operation would be employed in pits of longer strike such as West Pits 1 and 2. Inpit blasting of coal and/or overburden may be required. The two main pits are West Pit 1 located in the south-west and West Pit 2 located in the north-west of the project site with surface areas of 1101ha and 987ha respectively. The remaining eight satellite pits (East Pits 1 to 4 and Central Pits 1 to 4) are scattered along, or near, the eastern boundary of Mining Lease 10349 and range in size from 29ha (Central Pit 4) to 216ha (East Pits 2/3).

Initial development would commence in West Pit 1, with the establishment of a boxcut and out-of-pit overburden dump. Mining would also commence in Central Pit 1 to provide in-pit storage by year three for co-disposal of coal tailings and coarse rejects from the CHPP. During the first ten years of operation pit development would be concentrated in West Pit 1, which would expand to full north-south strike length and progressively move to the east.

From year ten onwards mining would commence in Central Pit 2 and by year 11 West Pit 1 would be completed and mining would commence in West Pit 2. West Pit 2 would be the main production pit and would continue to be progressively mined down dip for the remainder of the mine life. The remaining pits would be progressively mined one after the other once Central Pit 2 has been completed.

Exploration activities have identified a defined resource in excess of 200Mt of economically recoverable coal that would be extracted at a maximum rate of 10Mt/y of ROM coal and processed to produce up to 156 million tonnes (Mt) (i.e. 6Mt/y) of coking and thermal product coal over a mine life of 26 years. The annual coal extraction rate would vary from year to year due to initial ramp up and also due to ramp down during years with excessive wet weather or higher overburden strip ratios.

The mine is currently producing up to six million tonnes of coking and thermal coal products each year, which is processed using the existing infrastructure at QCoal’s nearby Sonoma Mine.

Coal from each of the pits would be transported by truck via haul roads and stockpiled at an on-site ROM pad. From there it would be fed into the CHPP for sizing and processing at a nominal rate of 1400 tonnes (t) per hour. Reclaimed product coal would be discharged into a train load-out bin and loaded onto trains bound for the Port of Abbot Point for export. Tailings and coarse reject from the CHPP would initially be piped to an initial co-disposal dam located to the west of the CHPP. Additional tailings and coarse rejects material would be buried in-pit once suitable space was available, or buried within above-ground waste rock emplacements.