Dawson south

The Dawson South open cut coal mine in the Dawson Valley, near Moura, in Queensland's Bowen Basin, is part of the greater Dawson Mine that has two other open pits, the North and Central pits. The three open cut operations that make up the Dawson mine are all owned by the Moura Joint Venture that consists of Anglo American Metallurgical Coal Pty Ltd (51 percent) and Mitsui Coal Holdings Pty Ltd (49 percent). The mine is operated by Anglo American. The Dawson Mine began production in the 1960's and was the first Australian coal mine to export coal to Japan in 1961. It is also the mine that pioneered the use of drag lines in open cut coal mining in 1963. In 1996 it became the first mine in Australia to extract methane gas on a commercial basis.

Dawson South Stage 2 Proposal
Anglo American is currently proposing to develop Dawson South stage two as another open cut operation. This mine will effectively extend the existing Dawson Stage 1 operation. The predominant coal to be mined will be a high energy thermal coal for export over the next 20 years or more. It is proposed to produce five million tonnes of coal a year from the Dawson South Stage 2 Project.

Dawson South Uses Moura Coal Washing Plant
The Dawson South open cut coal mine uses the Moura Mine coal washing plant for coal preparation and coal washing to raise the product to export standard. After it is treated it is loaded onto railway wagons that take the coal 220 kilometres to the port at Gladstone from where it is exported to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The Dawson coal seam is a substantial source of coal seam methane that is used to provide feedstock for an ammonium nitrate plant, a source of explosives and fertiliser. The Dawson South open cut mine starts 10 kilometres north west of the town of Theodore and continues from there in a southerly direction, along the banks of the Dawson River.

Dawson South Open Cut Mine Uses High Wall Mining Techniques
The Dawson South open cut mine produces thermal, soft coking and coking coal using high-wall mining techniques. Mining methods have always held a high place in the mining of coal at the Dawson mine with it introducing Queensland mining industry to the use of drag-line operations in 1963 and then continuing to mine using modern high-wall mining techniques.

Dawson South Mine Environmentally Aware
The Dawson South open pit coal mine is conscious of delivering environmental outcomes and to this end it includes the following:

- An integrated action plan to manage greenhouse gas monitoring
- The carrying out of research trials to highlight long term rehabilitation and sustainability by working with business and local institutions
- Establishment of a nature refuge and creating biodiversity through the adoption of modern standards in environmental management
- Lowering raw water consumption by installing 'backbone' water pipelines to recycle mine water usage and drought proofing of other mining areas
- The use of conveyors to replace trucks in order to reduce energy consumption when moving coal long distances and to lessen the use of water trucks to keep dust levels down on mine haulage roads.
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