Charbon

The Charbon open cut and underground coal mine, that is majority owned by Centennial Coal, with SK Energy Australia Pty Ltd, as a minor partner, is one of the highest mines in New South Wales at 699 metres above sea level. It is situated in the Western Coalfields near the town of Kandos 160 kilometres north west of the state capital Sydney.

The Charbon Coal Mine Operates at Near Full Capacity

The mine that was originally owned by Boral, who sold it to Centennial in 1994, comprises an open pit as well as an underground Continuous Miner operation. The black thermal coal mined at Charbon is sold on both the domestic and export market. In 2011 1.2 million tonnes of coal were mined from a full production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes a year. It is estimated to have coal reserves of 5.8 million tonnes, sufficient to keep the mine operating economically until 2016. The coal mined at the Charbon coal mine, that is mostly for export, is transported to Port Kembla for shipping overseas. The Charbon Colliery includes the open pit, underground operation, a rail loop and loading facilities, as well as a coal preparation plant.

A big Emphasis on Safety at the Charbon Mine

The management of the Charbon operation, as do most modern mine managers, put a lot of emphasis on mine safety and as a result the mine achieved a considerable milestone in 2011 when it went for over two years without registering a lost time injury. This was put down to the successful number of mine site and company initiatives established to improve safety at the mine.

The Charbon mine has also achieved the following milestones:

Introduced the use of a mono-rail for the management of cables in 'place changing' panels

Implemented 'place changing' when developing roadways underground

Began mining operations in the Haystack Western Underground area

Successfully returned to the old Eastern Underground area and recovered almost 2.5 million tonnes of coal that had otherwise been neglected

Received mining approvals that allowed secondary mining to occur at the Eastern Underground areas

Finished development and mining operations at the Southern Underground area of the mine

Charbon is Expected to Last Until 2016

Centennial Coal has been able to extend the life of the Charbon Colliery when it was granted approval to go ahead with its Charbon extension three kilometres south of Kandos in 2010. This $8 million development allowed mining operations underground at Charbon and at the Southern open cut to continue coal production at the site for a further six years.

Rehabilitation is a Serious Business for Mine Management

Centennial has also been busy with rehabilitating mined out areas of the Charbon open cut. Areas that were rehabilitated five years ago are now appearing to resemble native bushland adjacent to the area and it gives the company confidence they will be successful when the mine finally closes around 2016.

Centennial feel the primary reason for their success in rehabilitation of the mine site is their seed bank. A lot of time has been put into collecting local native seed. The company now has 38 different species of shrubs and trees that germinate when they get the conditions right. When this occurs they spread the seed from beneath a helicopter via a seeding mechanism that is remote controlled. There is a total area of 200 hectares that will eventually need rehabilitation at the Charbon mine site. However, seed can only be laid in the area after the clay, overburden and top soil is returned when all the coal deposit is removed.

There is much more to mining coal these days than there was back in the 1950's when an operator of a mine simply packed up most of the reusable machinery and walked away.