Chain valley

The Chain Valley Colliery is an underground coal mine, mining beneath south Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, adjacent to the Vales Point Power station and 60 kilometres from Newcastle. Coal mining began at the Chain Valley Mine in 1962 and its first 50 years of continuous operation was celebrated in 2012. During its first half century the operation has mined three separate coal seams, the Fassifern, Great Northern and Wallarah seams.

Chain Valley Coal Mined via a Mini-wall Mining Method
The current mining method used at the Chain Valley Colliery is that of bord and pillar and mini-wall mining, a method much like the conventional long-wall technology but it takes place on a narrower face width. Both methods use continuous miners for development work. The Chain Valley Mine is owned by LDO Coal Pty Ltd (80 percent) and Sojitz Australia (20 percent) the mine is operated by LakeCoal (Lake Coal Pty Ltd).

Chain Valley Mine Given a 14 year Extension
The Chain Valley Mine has been given a life of mine extension of a further 14 years, following an extension of the coal mining area that is currently undertaking secondary mining under Lake Macquarie. Mining tenements still to be exploited include Chain Valley Bay, Summerland Point and Gwandalan. The mine has averaged production levels of between 450,000 and one million tonnes of coal a year during its production life. The variation has been influenced by the demand for the product and the geology of the coal seam being mined at various times.

Chain Valley Exports 55 Percent of its Coal Production
The Chain Valley Colliery sends 30 percent of its coal production to the Vale Point Power Station for power generation purposes, 55 percent is exported through Port Waratah at Newcastle to its overseas clients and 15 percent goes to smaller domestic customers. The mine has a run of mine (ROM) coal reserve of 4.4 million tonnes with production capability of up to 1.2 million tonnes a year.

Chain Valley Mine Concerned With Overuse of Ruttleys Road
Coal mining operations at the Chain Valley underground mine has meant rather heavy road use along Ruttleys road that has been used to transport the coal to the PWCS (Port Waratah Coal Services) Carrington Coal Terminal, the nearby Vales Point Power Station and to domestic customers, from the mine site. In order to reduce coal truck traffic on Ruttleys Road, LakeCoal is now transporting coal to the Vales Point Power Station via a route comprised entirely of private roads over land owned by Delta Electricity. This change has eliminated all right hand turns by fully loaded coal haulage trucks that formally entered the road. However, Ruttleys Road remains the only economically feasible way of transporting the coal to the Port of Newcastle and the Munmorah Power Station.

Chain Valley Infrastructure
The surface infrastructure at the Chain Valley colliery consists of; workshops, administration buildings, water management facilities that include 13 pollution control dams, a coal processing plant (CPP), coal stockpiles as well as a 1,200 tonne truck loading bin. The mine access infrastructure consists of a roadway from seam to surface (personnel and materials drift), a ROM coal conveyor drift and a downcast ventilation shaft. The up-cast ventilation shaft and fan is located on Summerland Point. The ROM coal undergoes crushing at the CPP before being stockpiled or loaded onto the coal haulage trucks to be transported to the port at Newcastle for export, or taken to either the Munmorah, or Vale Point Power Stations.
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