Moranbah North (metallurgical coal) is located in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

The sedimentary strata of Grosvenor, Moranbah North and Moranbah South were deposited on the tectonically stable Collinsville Shelf on the north western flank of the basin. Basalt flows that follow structures associated with the Permo-Carboniferous strike slip system partially overlie Grosvenor, Moranbah North and Moranbah South.

COAL SEAMS
Moranbah Coal Measures
Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and coal are the predominant lithology’s within the Moranbah Coal Measures, with one distinctive tuffaceous marker bed, the P Tuff, recognised throughout the area.

Goonyella Middle Seam (GM Seam)
In general, the GM Seam displays a brightness profile decreasing towards the roof. Coal surrounding the major partings is often high in vitrinite, but there is always a dulling towards the roof of the seam. This is replicated in coking properties with the best coal being at the base of the seam. The top of the GM Seam generally displays poor coking or thermal coal properties rather than high quality coking coal properties.

The seam maintains a relatively uniform thickness throughout the deposit across the Moranbah North lease and into the project area. In the northern areas of the Moranbah North lease and project area the parting between the GM and GML seams thins in the working section area (interburden less than 30 cm) and consists of a carbonaceous siltst ........

Moranbah North is an underground longwall mine.

Mining activities through ML70108 and into the Project area are, and will continue to be for the life of the mine, confined to underground operations using longwall extraction methods and development using continuous miner equipment.

Preparation for longwall to commence mining:
- Each development pillar ~120m in length and 60m width. ~45 pillars per panel (4.5 km). Cut height 3.5m with roadway width of 5.4m. 8 x 1.8m roof bolts and 7 x 1.8m rib bolts each metre installed when in optimum mining conditions.
- Longwall shearer cuts coal using bi- directional method.
- Width of the longwall panel is 300m with 1m advance per shear. Extraction height 4.2m to 4.7m.

2022 - The Moranbah North mine is became the first of the company’s three operating longwalls to achieve the 100% automation mark.

This mine uses SL 900 shearers from Eickhoff, with a team of operational and engineering experts monitoring the longwall mining process from start to finish. These operators, located in the Remote Operations Centres (ROC) above-ground, are able to analyse the data and drive safer operations, better decisions and achieve mining excellence.

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