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Australia

Appin Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Coal (metallurgical)
Mining Method
  • Longwall
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SnapshotAppin Mine consists of the merged Appin (now Appin Colliery – East) and Tower (now Appin Colliery - West) Collieries.

Appin Mine, Cordeaux Colliery and Dendrobium Mine (and associated facilities) collectively operate as South32 Illawarra Metallurgical Coal. In FY 2023, South32 invested in Illawarra Metallurgical Coal’s transition to a more efficient single longwall configuration at Appin from FY25, and additional ventilation capacity to enable mining in Appin’s Area 7 until at least 2039.

Appin Mine extracts coal from the Bulli Seam within the Southern Coalfield.
Related AssetIllawarra Operation

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnershipInvestor's Info
Endeavour Coal Pty Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
South32 Limited 100 % Indirect
Appin Mine is owned and operated by Endeavour Coal Pty Ltd, a subsidiary company of Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd, which is 100% owned by South32 Limited.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

Illawarra Coal's assets are located in the southern portion of the Sydney Basin within the Southern Coalfield.

The full sequence of Triassic to Permian sedimentary units are present within the Illawarra Coal's areas, including the Permian Shoalhaven Group, Illawarra Coal Measures and the overlying Triassic Narrabeen Group and Hawkesbury Sandstone.

Bulli Coal is the uppermost coal unit in the Illawarra Coal Measures. It is extensively worked in the northern portions of the Southern Coalfield. The Bulli Seam is the main economic coal seam for the Bulli Seam Operation - Appin mine and West Cliff Colliery (now Appin North). It averages approximately 2.6 m thick across Appin, gaining a maximum thickness of approximately 4.1 m. The Bulli Seam thins to approximately 1.4 m in the south eastern part of West Cliff (now Appin North) and also south west of Appin. Overall, the coal thickness for the Bulli Seam is generally consistent across Bulli Seam Operation in the mined out areas and planned areas of longwall mining;

The structure over the Illawarra operation area is relatively well defined based on the geological data available. Seam dips over the area are generally low (1° to 3°).

The faults have been identified by 3D seismic, 2D seismic, underground mapping, underground drilling, de-gassing intra-seam holes and, to a lesser extent, interpreted from floor contours generated from drill-hole data. The faults are predominately extension normal faults.

Fifty-one faults have been interpreted at the Bulli Seam Operation area to a level of confidence that allows them to be incorporated in the geological model. The throw on the Appin faults average approximately 20 m, although the maximum throw is 90 m; approximately 13 faults have throws of greater than 5 m. As the average thickness of the Bulli Seam is less than 2.7 m, a throw of more than 2 to 3 m can adversely impact the potential for eventual economic extraction. This was demonstrated at West Cliff (now Appin North) where LW 22 to 24 were constrained due to faulting. The Appin mine plan has been laid out to avoid the significant faulting identified by exploration to date.

The Bulli Seam Operation has igneous dykes varying from near vertical and thin (less than 0.3 m), which are boggy and soft and easy to mine, to more significant dykes of 4 to 5 m in width which are very hard (up to UCS of 270 MPa) and more difficult to mine. Through geological studies and operating experience, the igneous dykes are understood and have been observed to have narrow contact margins. Hard and wide dykes are being intercepted in the current mining area.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

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Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Coal (metallurgical) Mt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe31.43.44.95.6
All production numbers are expressed as clean coal. ^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Coal tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3.66 Mt1.77 Mt4 Mt6.1 Mt3.8 Mt
Reject  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe0.56 Mt0.36 Mt0.6 Mt1.6 Mt
Raw coal annual capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe7.5 Mt7.5 Mt
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe7.5 Mt
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

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EmployeesTotal WorkforceYear
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Aerial view:

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