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New Zealand

Maramarua Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Coal (thermal)
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotNorth Island domestic (“NID”) consists of the Rotowaro and Maramarua mines. Both produce a low-ash, low sulphur thermal coal for local steelmaking, energy generation, and other food and agricultural industries.

The impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023 caused flooding at both sites which caused a reduction to planned overburden removal and stripping of new pits at both mines.

M1 pit (Maramarua mine)
The project is scheduled to start in FY24 on approval of consents, with the coal destined for the same customers as current operations.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Talley’s Energy Ltd. 35 % Indirect
Bathurst Resources Ltd. 65 % Indirect
BT Mining Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
BT Mining is a joint-venture between Bathurst Resources Limited (65%) and Talley’s Energy Limited (35%).

BT is the permit holder and permit operator of the Maramarua Mine and has appointed Bathurst as the mine operator.

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

The stratigraphy of the Maramarua Coalfield is similar to that of other northern Waikato Coalfields, being dominated by thick, Cenozoic, Te Kuiti Group sediments which unconformably overlie Mesozoic basement rock of the Newcastle Group. The Waikato Coal Measures, and later Te Kuiti Group sediments, were deposited in a broad north to northnorthwest trending elongated trough which appears to have been controlled by structural trends within the underlying Newcastle Group basement rock.

The Waikato Coal Measures are present over the entire coalfield with a thickness of up to 134 m.

The Kupakupa main seam (KK) is located near the base of the coal measures, is the most widespread and thickest seam, and ranges in thickness ranging from less than 1 m to 15 m.

The Kupakupa seam has up to four lower seams (KL1, KL2, KL3, KL4) located 1 m to 3 m below the main KK seam. These lower seams are discontinuous and generally less than a metre thick.

The Kupakupa seam is overlain by carbonaceous shales, siltstones and claystones of the upper Te Kuiti Group.

The generalised structure of the coalfield dips at 15° north-northwest and flattens out towards the Miranda Fault due to fault drag effects on the hanging wall.

Two major faults dominate the deposit.
-The Foote Fault zone is interpreted to be a large displacement fault striking northnortheast that is downthrown to the southeast with an estimated throw of 150 m.
-The Miranda Fault is a northeast striking fault, with displacements of up to 60 m tothe southeast.

Several other smaller displacement faults (less than 10 m), which generally strike parallel to the two major faults, are interpreted to exist throughout the coalfield. Fault dips have been interpreted to be 65°, based on fault zone intercepts in drill holes.

The main Kupakupa (KK) seam is low ash, low fixed carbon and very low sulphur coal. There is some evidence of higher phosphorous coal (greater than 0.06% phosphorous in coal) at the base of the KK seam. The coal resource is sub-bituminous C rank.

The Maramarua Resource model is approximately 2.6km in length and 2.6km in width, covering approximately 680 hectares. Within this area there are two main areas of focus for future mining - K1 and M1 areas. As discussed above, the coal seams are generally laterally continuous, however thickness can vary over short lateral distances due to the highly faulted nature of the deposit.

The main Kupakupa (KK) seam is the target in this area. Seam thickness ranges from 1m to 15m. There are also isolated areas of KL seam which have been identified as an economic resource within the RF1.0 pit shell.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits202320222021202020192018
Coal (thermal) Mt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe0.2 **0.1 **
All production numbers are expressed as ROM coal. ** Combined production for Maramarua Mine and Rotowaro Mine

Operational metrics

Metrics202320222021202020192018
Waste  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,625,666 bcm1,739,000 bcm
Coal tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe0.2 Mt of ROM coal0.1 Mt of ROM coal

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 21, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 21, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 21, 2023

EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required 2020
...... Subscription required 2017

Aerial view:

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