Anglesea

The Anglesea open cut coal mine in Victoria, near the state's second largest city of Geelong, has been producing high grade brown coal to power Alcoa's adjacent power station since the Alcoa Point Henry aluminium smelters were built there in 1961. The brown coal reserves at the site have a heat value of more than 15,000 joules a gram. The importance of this fact is easier understood when it is realised that it only takes one tonne of Anglesea brown coal to deliver 1.3 megawatt hours of electrical energy at the Anglesea power station as against two tonnes of brown coal to get the same result in the Latrobe Valley at Yallourn and Hazelwood power stations.

Mine Workings Below Sea Level

The open cut Anglesea brown coal mine is currently retrieving coal from a depth of 60 metres below sea level with excavators loading specially designed 60 tonne dump trucks used to transport the coal directly to the power station. The dump trucks are fitted with high volume carrying capacity bodies to cater for the relative light weight of the coal.

New Agreement Reached to Cover the Next 50 Years

The Victoria State Government and the mine owner Alcoa reached an agreement in 2011 that extends the mining lease on the site for a further 50 years. This agreement guarantees the ongoing long term operation of the Anglesea mine, the power station and the Port Henry aluminium smelter, the combined employers of over 1,000 people in the area. The agreement also guarantees:

ï The ongoing community sponsorship to more than 100 local organisation valued at $1 million a year

ï The continuation of contractor and maintenance services at the mine, power station and smelter worth around $46 million a year

ï Contractor and employee wages to a value of $154 million annually

ï The continuation of Anglesea Health in conjunction with the State Government Department of Sustainability and Environment and Parks Victoria

The new agreement also allows for considerable environmental benefits that weren't enforceable under the previous agreement, such as:

ï The lodging of a bond valued at $13.94 million to ensure a high standard of rehabilitation is carried out on the site

ï Subjecting Alcoa to a new environmental review procedure should any future expansion of mining activity be required to be undertaken in the future on the lease area. Such development will be limited to 10 percent of the lease. The mine currently uses 419 hectares and the new agreement restricts further expansion to a further 246 hectares of a total lease area of 7,145 hectares

ï Any future work proposed at the mine will have to be first approved by the State Government with all potential environmental concerns detailed and explanations given as to how such concerns will be managed

The Anglesea mine has already been subjected substantial rehabilitation work since the 1970's as Alcoa have always been aware of the need to one day be able to return the lease area to the people of Victoria in a sound worthwhile condition and not walk away leaving a great hole in the ground as its legacy. To this end it has always looked on rehabilitation as being ongoing. This is carried out by using dump trucks and excavators in back-filling work by replacing the overburden that had earlier been removed to expose the coal body. When the overburden is replaced it is topped up with a metre of clay before the top soil is laid out as it was by nature.