Mt Owen is situated between two regional thrust faults, the Hunter Thrust and the Hebden Thrust that limit the lateral extent of the coal seams. Seam dips vary throughout the deposit, with dips being steep (up to 45 º ) in the areas near the Hunter and Hebden Thrusts where parallel thrusts dislocate the seam by up to 40 metres.

Up to 22 mineable coal intervals are recognised, ranging in thickness from 0.2 metre to 10 metres, within a stratigraphic interval of approximately 350 metres, the coal seams comprise a total thickness of approximately 55 metres.

The seams for which there is potential for economic extraction at Mt Owen include the Lemington Seams, Pikes Gully Seams, Arties Seams, Upper Liddell Seams, Middle Liddell Seams, Lower Liddell Seams, Barrett Seams, Upper Hebden Seams and the Lower Hebden Seams.

Mining at Mt Owen occurs within the Wittingham Coal Measures with the North Pit located between the Hunter Thrust and the Hebden Thrust. The North Pit currently extracts coal from 22 mineable intervals, representative of 11 identifiable coal seams. Coal seams present range from the Lemington to the Lower Hebden seam and range in thickness from approximately 0.1 m to 10 m.

Mt Owen Continued Operation (MOCO) received approval in November 2016, under SSD-5850 (development consent/ project approval). The approval combined the existing development consents for Mt Owen and Ravensworth East, extending the operation until 2031. In August 2017, MOC modified SSD-5850 (‘Modification 1’) to allow for the construction of a mine water pipeline from Integra Underground Mine to the MOC.

During 2018 an application was made to the DP&E ( Department of Planning & Environment) regarding a further modification of SSD-5850 (‘Modification 2’). The modification seeks to increase the life of the operation by 6 years, to 2037, by mining an additional 35 Mt of ROM coal. The modification will allow for the optimisation of the North Pit mine plan to access coal resources obtained by Glencore through the acquisition of the Integra Underground Mine. The application is currently in the environmental assessment phase, with Glencore submitting its Response to Submissions on the proposed modification to DP&E in December 2018.

Mining and dumping will continue in a south- easterly direction. Mt Owen has 38.5 hectares of rehabilitation planned, consisting of woodland areas.

Mt Owen produces thermal and semi-soft coking coal for supply to the export markets. The thermal coal product is highly volatile with strong combustion characteristics and has been widely used for power generation.

Semi-soft coking coal produced by Mt Owen is used by steel mills for pulverised coal injection and as a component in the coke blend.