Cameby downs

The Cameby Downs open cut coal mine is located on the Warrego Highway, 360 kilometres from Brisbane and 16 kilometres from Miles. It is connected to the port at Brisbane by a railway line.

Yancoal Australia Acquire Cameby Downs Mine From Syntech Resources

In August 2011, the Cameby Downs Mine, that was previously owned by Syntech Resources, was acquired by Chinese mining company Yancoal Australia. Yancoal Australia being a subsidiary of the giant Yanzhou Coal mining Company

Cameby Downs Coal is of High Quality

Mining commenced at Cameby Downs in 2010. It is made up of a rail load out facility, a coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) that was completed in 2010 and capable of handling 250 tonnes of coal an hour and an open coal mining pit. The mine produces 1.4 million tonnes of thermal coal a year, all of which is transported to the port at Brisbane, by rail, to the Queensland Bulk Handling coal export terminal (QBH). Cameby Downs coal is regarded as a high quality coal containing 0.45 percent sulphur, 11 percent ash and 6,300kcal/kg GAD. It is sold for power generation in Asia. Total coal tenements held by the company in the region contain at least one billion tonnes.

First Coal Shipment Leaves Cameby Downs Mine in 2010

The Cameby Downs mine is operated by mining contractor Macmahon. The same company that developed it since its beginning. Macmahon undertake all mining activities on the site. This includes; train loading, coal preparation, coal mining and the stripping of 10 million bank cubic metres of waste material a year to locate the coal seam. Coal production commenced immediately the development ceased in July 2010 with the first trail load leaving the load out in November the same year. The workforce, in the main, is sourced from the local community.

Each Train Load Pulls 1,940 Tonnes of Coal

Some of the coal mined at the Cameby Downs Mine has low inherent ash content and is therefore able to by-pass having to be put through the CHPP. In this case it goes directly to the coal product stockpile. By-pass coal production along with clean coal that has gone through the plant is about 1.4 million tonnes a year. This product coal is loaded directly from the stockpile into rail wagons by conveyor. Each train that leaves the load out pulls a load totalling 1,940 tonnes the 380 kilometres to the QBH at Brisbane.

Yancoal Experimenting with Alternative Mining Methods at Cameby Downs

Coal mined at Cameby Downs is considered suitable for use in coal conversion technologies and Yancoal is actively pursuing the possibility of mining Cameby Downs coal with the formation of hydrocarbon liquid, gas and various chemicals. These technologies have been developed in China as a means whereby coal resources can be alternatively developed.

Yancoal Australia owns a number of substantial coal tenement in the Surat Basin in southern Queensland besides that of the Cameby Downs Mine. It has a coal resource of 723 million tonnes, of this 233 million tonnes is JORC inferred and 490 million tonnes is JORC measured and indicated. There is more than one billion tonnes potential coal deposit not of JORC status.