Ensham

The Ensham black coal mine, 40 kilometres from Emerald in Central Queensland, is 85 percent owned by Japanese company Idemitsu through its wholly owned subsidiary Bligh Coal and 15 percent owned by LG International. Idemitsu is one of the world's biggest privately owned energy organisations and LG International is a large Korean electrical conglomerate. The mine, that produces thermal coal, mainly for the export market, began production in 1993 and up until 2009 had produced over 80 million tonnes of coal. Up until 2011 the operation had been operating as an open cut mine but in December that year an underground operation began production on the site using a bord and pillar method of mining that allows it to exploit coal seams located at greater depths.

The Ensham Mine's Bucyrus 8750 Drag-line has a 110 Cubic Metre Bucket
The Ensham open cut mine uses four drag-lines and a large pre-strip fleet. Its largest drag-line is a Bucyrus 8750 that boasts a 110 cubic metre bucket, the second largest drag-line in the world. Once the coal seam is exposed it is removed by excavator, or loader, and hauled to the coal processing plant before finding itself in the stockpile area from where it is taken to the port at Gladstone by rail. Up until recently it had employed up to 600 workers but this figure is diminishing due to cost cutting responding to falling coal prices. There are around one billion tonnes of low ash, high energy thermal coal resources at the Ensham coal deposit making Ensham Resources the third largest coal producer in the state.

Ensham Coal Processed to Customers Needs
The Ensham coal handling facility crushes and sorts the raw coal into specific sizes that are pre-ordered by its customers. To facilitate this operation the coal is exposed to a series of vibrating sizing screens. The coal is then placed in a stockpile that contains 45,000 tonnes of coal according to its size and quality. It is taken by conveyor to the rail load- out, from the stockpile, at the rate of 4,000 tonnes an hour. The coal is loaded into the rail wagons via a 500 tonne capacity overhead coal loading bin.

Seven Thousand Tonne Capacity Trains Take Ensham Coal to Gladstone for Export
Trains with 7,000 tonne capacity transport the coal from the Ensham Mine to the Gladstone port 339 kilometres away from where it is exported to overseas customers on-board ships capable of carrying 160,000 tonnes with each shipload. The coal sold on the domestic market is railed to power stations for power generation purposes.

Low World Coal Prices Effect Ensham Coal Production
Lower coal prices in recent times have made the open cut operation at the Ensham Mine unsustainable and uneconomical which has forced the company to downsize its operations. This has substantially effected the workforce as production has been limited to areas where the coal can be mined at the lowest cost. Other areas have been closed down while price restrictions continue. This has seen jobs at the mine being considerably reduced.

Before the cut-backs, Ensham Resources were producing seven million tonnes of high energy low ash thermal coal a year. Most of this production went to energy producers in China, India, Korea, and Japan.

The Bowen Basin in Queensland is a premier coal producing region that contains over 70 percent of the states total coal reserves and produces around 85 percent of its coal exports.
†