Stratford Mining Complex (SMC)
The coal resource at the Stratford Mining Complex (SMC) is located within the Permian aged Gloucester Basin in NSW.

The SMC is located in the central eastern flank of the north-south trending synclinal structure of the Gloucester Basin. In this area, a thick sequence of Carboniferous volcanics is overlain by late Permian sedimentary strata including coal seams. The Permian succession is divided into the following three groups (oldest to youngest):
• Stroud Volcanics;
• Dewrang Group; and
• Gloucester Coal Measures.

The target coal seams at the SMC are located within the Craven and Avon Subgroups of the Gloucester Coal Measures and within the Dewrang Group, including:
• Marker [M7] Seams;
• Bindaboo Seams;
• Deards Seams;
• Cloverdale Seams;
• Roseville Seams;
• Bowens Road Seams;
• Avon Seams;
• Glenview Seams;
• Marker 2 Seams;
• Triple Coal Seams;
• Cheer-up Seams;
• Clareval Seams; and
• Rombo Coal Seams.

The Cloverdale, Roseville, Marker, Bowens Road and Avon Seams have been previously mined at the SMC. Coal seams in the project area are generally of constant thicknesses except to the east where thrust faulting has thickened and repeated strata, which is further complicated by the steeply dipping syncline structure.

Duralie Coal Mine (DCM)
The coal resource at the Duralie Coal Mine (DCM) is located within the Permian aged Gloucester Basin in NSW.

The DCM is located in the southern closure of the main synclinal structure of the Gloucester Basin and is associated with the coal bearing strata of the Dewrang Group. The Dewrang Group comprises three main stratigraphic units, namely: Mammy Johnsons Formation; Weismantels Formation; and Duralie Road Formation.

The coal seams mined at the DCM include:
• the Weismantel Seams;
• the Clareval Seams; and
• the Cheerup Seams.

The underlying basement rocks are principally volcanics of Early Permian (i.e. Alum Mountain Volcanics) and Carboniferous age that were folded during formation of the Gloucester Basin. The Early Permian and Carboniferous volcanic rocks are typically erosion resistant and form the more prominent ridges to the east and west of the DCM.

Stratford Mining Complex (SMC)
Stratford Mining Complex (SMC) consists of an open-cut mine which utilises truck and excavator mining methods to produce ROM coal.

The following key activities were undertaken during the reporting period:
• Mining continued in the BRN Open Cut and the Roseville West Open Cut within the existing footprints;
• Mining in the Avon North Open Cut advanced to the full proposed mining footprint;
• Mining in the Stratford East Open Cut advanced to the south with further development of the waste emplacement, water division systems and haul road network; and
• Reprocessing of coal from both the Western Co-disposal area continued during the reporting period.

Mining operations are permitted 7 days per week.

BRNOC
The BRNOC is an existing mining area located north-west of the Stratford Main Pit. Mining of the BRNOC pit will be completed during 2021. Progressive backfilling of the BRNOC has commenced. Access to the BRNOC will continue to be via an existing haul road north of the Stratford Main Pit.

Avon North Open Cut
The Avon North Open Cut is an existing mining area located north-east of the Stratford Main Pit. Approximately 4.3 Mt of ROM coal will be mined from the Avon North Open Cut over the life of the pit, targeting the Avon, Marker 2, Glenview, Triple Coal and Rombo groups of seams.

Access to the Avon North Open Cut will be via the existing haul road east of the BRNOC Pit to the toe of the Northern Waste Emplacement Extension.

Once mining operations in the Avon North Open Cut are completed, the void will be used as a contained water storage and ultimately for co-disposal of CHPP rejects (if required) once the Stratford Main Pit co-disposal Area void is filled.

Roseville West Pit
The Roseville West Pit is an existing mining area. Mining in the existing footprint of the Roseville West Pit will continue throughout the Mining Operations Plan and Rehabilitation Management Plan (MOP/RMP) term. Backfilling the northern extent of the Roseville West Pit with waste will commence during the MOP/RMP term.

Access to the Roseville West Pit will continue to be via the existing haul roads to the south-east. A new haul road access will also be constructed between the BRNOC and Roseville West Pit. This haul road will cross Avondale Creek and will involve construction of a new culvert.

Stratford East Open Cut
Approximately 9.6 Mt of ROM coal would be mined from the Stratford East Open Cut over the life of the pit, targeting the Cheer-up and Clareval Seams.

During the MOP/RMP term, mining of the Stratford East Open Cut will be continued with development extending south up to the approved extent of the pit. Backfilling of the northern extent of the Stratford East Open Cut will also commence during the MOP/RMP term, with the northern most extent shaped to its final landform and revegetation established by the end of the MOP/RMP term.

Access to the Stratford East Open Cut would continue to be via a haul road constructed along the southern and western toe of the Stratford Waste Emplacement.

Once mining operations in the Stratford East Open Cut are complete, the void will be partially backfilled with waste. A void will remain at the southern end of the open cut and would be a permanent contained water storage. The catchment area of the Stratford East Open Cut will be minimised with provision of permanent perimeter bunds, up catchment diversions and/or bunds/embankment walls.

Western Co-Disposal Area
The Western Co-disposal Area is no longer used for the disposal of CHPP rejects. The extent of the Western Co-disposal Area is contained by perimeter bunding and diversion drains.

Recovery of historical CHPP rejects from the Western Co-disposal Area will continue to occur during the MOP/RMP term.

Stratford Main Pit
Mining of the Stratford Main Pit has been completed. The Stratford Main Pit will continue to be used as a CHPP rejects material disposal area, water storage and waste emplacement area during the MOP/RMP term including receiving and transfer of water.

Duralie Coal Mine (DCM)
The Duralie Coal Mine (DCM) is an open cut truck and shovel operation.

The operations extract ROM coal from the Weismantel and Clareval seams at the base of the Gloucester Coal Measures. The deposit forms a synclinal structure with the open cut area located at the southernmost crop line within the main axis of the Gloucester Basin. The operation is now situated on the west limb of the syncline with seams dipping at about 50 degrees east. Mining is undertaken within ML1427 and ML1646 and includes the extension of the Weismantel pit to the north west and the inclusion of the Clareval seam parallel and to the west of the Weismantel seam.

Dips within the deposit vary from a shallow 5 degrees to an almost vertical profile. Consequently, a method of horizontal 3m to 4m benches is used as the primary extraction method. An average of 5m of free dig material is generally experienced at Duralie after which all waste material generally requires blasting.

Mining at the DCM was postponed in October 2018. Since this time periodic rehabilitation and PAF rehandling works have been undertaken. Mining at the DCM recommenced in February 2021 with ROM coal being extracted from the Weismantel Pit.

Mining in the Clareval pit was completed during September 2017. Clearing in advance of mining up to the approved disturbance limit in both Weismantel and Clareval was completed in 2018. No further clearing is proposed for the Duralie Extension Project (DEP).

44,953 tonnes of ROM coal was mined at the DCM during the reporting period (1st July 2020 to 30th June 2021). Approximately 250kt of ROM coal is remaining in the Weismantel pit and is intended to be extracted prior to the end of 2021.

Waste rock (including overburden and interburden) mined during the development of the Weismantel open pit will continue to be placed within the existing Waste Emplacement. Waste rock will also continue to be used to partially backfill the Weismantel and Clareval open pits.

Clareval Open Pit
Mining of the Clareval open pit has been finalised and the pit has been developed to a final depth of -81 m AHD. During the MOP/RMP term, activities at the Clareval open pit will include partial backfilling of the void with waste rock mined from the Weismantel open pit, and placement of potentially acid forming (PAF) material (from existing stockpiles on the Waste Emplacement) within the pit and capping with non-acid forming (NAF) material. Activities will also include ongoing rehabilitation of the southern extent of the Clareval open pit area including re shaping to its final landform design.

Weismantel Open Pit
The Weismantel open pit will be active throughout the MOP/RMP term and will be developed up to approximately Relative Level (RL) -8 m deep. After the cessation of mining of the Weismantel open pit (beyond this MOP/RMP term), the Weismantel open pit will be partially backfilled with PAF material (from existing stockpiles on the Waste Emplacement) and capped with NAF material. Activities will also include ongoing rehabilitation of the southern extent of the Weismantel open pit area including re-shaping to its final landform design.

The Duralie Coal Mine (DCM) is an open cut truck and shovel operation located approximately 20km south of the Stratford Mine facilities, producing ROM coal, which is railed to the Stratford Mining Complex (SMC) and processed at the SMC Coal Handling and Processing Plant (CHPP). Product coal is transported via train on the North Coast Railway to the Port of Newcastle.

Duralie CHP Throughput and Rejects Management
ROM coal is initially handled at the Duralie Coal Handling Plant (CHP). Rock greater than 140 mm is removed from ROM coal using a rotary breaker at the CHP. The separated rock is conveyed to a rejects bin from which it is loaded out and trucked to be buried on site as potentially acid forming (PAF) waste. The ROM coal is then transferred via conveyor to a train loadout bin and railed to the Stratford Mining Complex (SMC) via a shuttle train.

Reject fractions from the ROM coal are generated at the SMC and deposited along with processing waste fractions ........