East end

The East End open cut limestone and clay mine is located seven kilometres from Mt Larcom and 24 kilometres from the industrial town of Gladstone in Queensland. The mine was established in 1964 to supply limestone to Cement Australia's cement plant at Fishermans Landing in Gladstone, via a 31 kilometre rail loop line constructed by Queensland Rail.

East End Mine Owned by Cement Australia

The owner of the East End limestone and clay mine, Cement Australia, is a company formed in 2003 as a result of a merger between Queensland Cement Limited and Australian Cement Holdings, giving the new company a combined heritage of around 200 years.

East End Limestone and Clay Taken to Fishermans Landing Cement Plant

Mining activity carried out at the East End mine involves the progressive removing of vegetation, that mainly includes pasture grass, as well as the upper layer of top soil. This material is stockpiled for re-use during rehabilitation work on the site after that specific area is mined out. The clay overburden, that lies below the top soil, is removed by either a hydraulic excavator, or front end loader that loads it into haulage trucks that take it to a primary crusher, or a nearby surge pile. The remaining clay and limestone is then broken up in the conventional manner by drilling and blasting after which it is excavated and primary crushed. The crushed clay and limestone is then stored before being taken to the cement plant at Fishermans Landing by specially designed railway wagons, where it is made into cement clinker.

New Limestone Deposit Will Extend Life of East End Mine

Cement Australia has discovered a significant resource of limestone to the south east of the current operation taking place at the East End mine. This resource is close to existing mine infrastructure that includes all the mine facilities, rail loading plant, road access, railways and railway loops etc. However, it is outside the current lease and a new lease is being applied for to include the recent discovery as a natural extension of the existing mine. The same open cut mining method would be used to operate the extended lease.

Mining of the new area would require extraction to take place below the water table. This means the mining operation would require de-watering. However, no processing would be carried out on the new lease as all the necessary facilities at the existing operation will remain available. The extended mining activity will include a series of benches having elevations matching those at the existing East End mine. Vertical separation between the benches would remain around 15 metres. Operational bench widths and final batter angles angles would be designed to meet all safety requirements. Mining of the new resource would, in effect, be an extension of the existing operation across a common lease boundary to the south east of the current operation.

It is expected that mining of the extended limestone deposit would start around 2018, the current rate of production would remain the same, around 2.5 million tonnes of clay and limestone a year.

Materials not suitable for clinker production, such as; volcanic rock, clay with unsuitable chemical characteristics and high alkai limestone, would be stored for later rehabilitation work. A water filled void will remain after mining at the site is completed.