Ashton

The Ashton coal mine consists of open pits and an underground mine in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, 14 kilometres from Singleton. It is located in the same area as four Xstrata open pits; Glendell, Ravensworth, Narama and Newpac, Two Vale pits; Camberwell and Glennies Creek and Lemington, a Rio Tinto owned pit. The Ashton Mine is the only mine in the area majority owned by Chinese mining company Yancoal, a fully owned subsidiary of the giant Chinese owned Yanzhou Coal mining Company. Yancoal own 90 percent of the Ashton coal mining joint venture with the remaining 10 percent owned by Itochu Corporation. The mine is operated by Yancoal.

Ashton Expansion Plan Approvals Challenged in the Land and Environment Court
The open pit operation at the Ashton Mine is at the stage of having to expand into its South East site that it plans to develop in the latter half of 2013. Although NSW government planning approval has been granted for this expansion to go ahead, the decision has been challenged in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court by a group of concerned local people. The court's final decision is yet to be determined.

Ashton Mine- a NSW State Significant Development
The Ashton Mine received the go ahead in the latter half of 2002 as an integrated State Significant Development. Besides the development of an open pit and underground mine, the establishment also required a CHPP (coal handling and preparation plant) and a railway siding to take the mined coal to Newcastle for exporting to Asian steel makers. The mine is currently producing three million tonnes of high quality semi-soft coking and some thermal coal annually, although it has the capacity to increase this to 3.9 million tonnes a year. The South East Open cut mine is scheduled to remain a high quality coal producer until 2017. The underground mine is estimated to have a life of mine up until 2023.

Ashton Underground Entry From Arties Pit Portals
The Ashton underground mine is situated south of the New England Highway with mine access available from the northern side of the highway by means of portals in the southern highwall of the Arties Pit. The main mine headings are aligned adjacent to, and beneath, the New England Highway corridor. The mine is a multi-seam operation that mines the Lower Barrett, Upper Lower Liddell, Upper Liddell and Pikes Gulley coal seams that make up the Foybrook formation. Coal is mined by means of longwall mining methods. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the year.

Ashton Open pit Mine has Restricted Operating Hours
Open cut pit mining at the Ashton coal mining operation takes place using backhoe type excavators and earthmoving haulage trucks. The open pit mine is restricted to mining between seven in the morning to 10 o'clock at night, from Monday to Saturday and from eight in the morning to 10pm on Sundays and public holidays. Three water trucks are employed to keep the dust under control along the 4.5 kilometre haulage road and the mine management has put much time into reducing noise impact on the residents of Camberwell Village. Particularly the noise emanating from loaders, trucks and bulldozers. Coal in the open pits is also taken from the Foybrook formation from the Barrett, Liddell, Arties and Pike Gulley coal seams that thrust upwards bringing the seams close to the surface.