Mine Details
Clarence
http://www.centennialcoal.com.au
thermal-black-coal, kaolin, manganese-ore, Town
Phone:
Address:
clarence coliiery road, lithgow, NSW, 2790
State: clarence coliiery road, lithgow, NSW, 2790
Email:
The Clarence Coal mine in the Western Coalfields of NSW is owned and operated by Centennial as a joint venture with SK Energy Australia. The mine produces black coal from its underground mining operations that are located about 10 kilometres from Lithgow. The mining infastucture on site includes a water treatment plant and a coal handling and preparation plant. (CHPP)
Clarence Coal is Sold to Domestic and Export Markets
The thermal coal mined at the Clarence Coal Mine is used domestically for power generation as well as being exported to other countries. It produces in excess of two million tonnes of coal a year and when working at full capacity is able to produce 2.5 million tonnes annually. Proven reserves at the end of 2011 were almost 50 million tonnes, enough coal to keep producing at the current level for another 20 years. The coal produced at the Clarence mine is transported by road to nearby power stations and by rail to Port Kembla for exporting.
Conveyor Belts Bring Coal to the Surface
Coal is brought to the surface at the Clarence mine by conveyor belts. Once on the surface it is sized before being subjected to primary and secondary crushing, depending on the necessity. It is then passed on to the ROM or Run of Mill stockpile. The coal that accumulates in the ROM stockpile is moved across onto more conveyors by dozers to take it to the CHPP. Here it is checked for quality as to its ash content before being transferred further on one of three conveyor belts to the washed coal stockpile. Once here it is once again pushed by dozers into piles representing its quality before being hauled off site on coal trains. It is also moved around the different washed coal stockpiles by front end loaders.
Course coal that has been rejected at the CHPP is carried by a conveyor belt to a reject bin and from there to the REA (Reject Emplacement Area). Fine reject coal is pumped from a thickener to a belt filter press process where the slurry becomes a cake able to be transferred back to a relevant stockpile.
Two Million Tonne Of ROM Coal Mined in one Year
The Clarence coal mine enjoyed record production during 2011 when it exceeded two million tonnes of Run of Mill quality black coal. This was the first occasion such a high level of ROM production had been reached while using a mining method known as partial extraction.
A Leader in Mining Innovation
The Clarence coal mine is a leader in mining innovation in Australia. It is the first underground mine to use the JOY 4th generation FCT (Flexible Conveyor Train). A high capacity coal haulage system. The Clarence mines model of this system is a 110 metre tracked conveyor that's capable of bending around corners while taking its load of coal to a hopper underground for transporting to the surface. An operator is in charge of the FCT by means of a remote control. It makes the traditional shuttle cars obsolete as there is no need for the continuous miner to wait for the shuttle cars to return for their next load. This allows for a substantial increase in actual cutting time.
