Eaglefield opencut coal mine

Eaglefield - North Goonyella is a combination of an underground miningoperation at North Goonyella and an open pit mine at Eaglefield, both onthe same lease and both owned by Peabody Energy. The two miningoperations are located, 160 kilometres west of Mackay, 50 kilometressouth west of Glenden and 17 kilometres from the Burton Gorge Dam, inthe Central Queensland Highlands.

Both North Goonyella and Eaglefield Mines Produce Coal for theExport Market

The North Goonyella Mine is operated as an underground longwall minethat mines premium quality coking coal for the export market. TheEaglefield Mine is an open cut mining operation that produces highquality hard coking coal that is also sold to international customers.

North Goonyella and Eaglefield Mines Share a Common Lease

Peabody Energy acquired the lease, on which both mines operate, in 2004.The lease covers an area of 3,555 hectares. Between the two operationsthere are a total of 679 personnel employed, including contractors, 519working at the North Goonyella Mine and 160 at the Eaglefield operation.Although Peabody Energy Australia operate and manage the NorthGoonyella Mine themselves they have contracted out the operation of theEaglefield open cut mine to the mining contractor Macmahon.

North Goonyella Coal has High Methane Level

Coal mined at North Goonyella produces rather high levels of methanegas, a feature that lends itself to it being used for electricity generation from future development as a coal bed methane gas producer. Coal mining commenced at the North Goonyella underground mine in 1994 and the coal it mines is exported from the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal, situated south of Mackay, to steel producers in Europe, India, Asia and Japan.

Eaglefield Processes its Coal at the North Goonyella Plant

The Eaglefield open cut mine began production in 2003 and bothEaglefield and North Goonyella share the same coal handling preparationplant (CHPP), tailings disposal storage, the railway loop and rail load outfacilities. They also share the same water management system. The NorthGoonyella Mine had a proven and possible coal resource of over 103million tonnes at the end of December 2010.

North Goonyella Roof Collapse Halts Production in 2011

Mining operations at North Goonyella ceased for a period in 2011 when aroof collapse blocked entrance to the mine in mid August. The roof falloccurred at the same time mining had been halted for the carrying out along-wall relocation. Normal production was resumed two months later, inearly October.

Eaglefield Uses Blast and Dozer push to Move Inter-burden

The Eaglefield open cut mine that is operated by mining contractorMacmahon produces up to 2.5 million tonnes of high quality coking andthermal coal a year. The mining method used at Eaglefield is the blastingand dozer push type of operation to remove inter-burden. This techniqueallows for an increasing number of explosives to be used to blast andthrow material across the pit to its final position, eliminating the need to move it by the usual shovel and truck method. After the blast has occurred carry dozers push any remaining material to its final destination.

Update July 2015- Operations at Eaglefield are currently on hold, with equipment parked up onsite. North Goonyella is still operational.