The open cut mining areas for the Project would be mined through conventional truck and shovel mining methods. The open cut mining operational areas would generally include supporting infrastructure such as haul roads, bunding, embankments, soil stockpiles, hardstands and water management structures.
Mining operations would generally occur 24 hours per day, seven days per week, with open cut mining activities and general sequence entailing:
- progressive clearing of vegetation occurring on areas required for the mining operation in accordance with prescribed procedures;
- stripping and stockpiling of soil from disturbed areas for storage and reuse in future rehabilitation of the mine landforms in accordance with prescribed procedures;
- pre-stripping of weathered tertiary sediments (e.g. unconsolidated/friable overburden, including clays) using scrapers, excavators and trucks;
- drilling and blasting (using commercial products, with the principal blasting agent being ammonium nitrate fuel oil [ANFO] only to be conducted during the daytime) for fragmentation of competent overburden and interburden as waste rock;
- removal of waste rock and inter-seam partings to expose the underlying coal seams, and placement in out-of-pit waste rock emplacements, or as infill in the mine void behind advancing mining operations, using a combination of dozers, excavators and trucks;
- mining of coal and haulage to the ROM coal handling facilities u ........
