Isaac plains

The Isaac Plains open cut coal mine in Queensland is managed by Isaac Plains Coal Management Pty Ltd with mining operations being undertaken by John Holland. Isaac Plains Coal Management Pty Ltd being fully owned by joint venture partners Vale and Sumitomo.

Coal Transported 172 Kilometres to Dalrymple for Exporting Overseas

The mine is located 172 kilometres by rail from the Dalrymple Bay Coal terminal on the Queensland coast where the coal is exported to the company's overseas customers. The Isaac Plains mine site is situated 180 kilometres south of Mackay and seven kilometres from the town of Moranbah on the Peak Downs Highway.

Strip Mining Method Used at the Isaac Plains Open cut Mine

The Isaac Plains Coal Mine is operated in a strip mining fashion that utilises blasting, dozers, shovel and truck methods of mining. The overburden is removed by a dragline excavation operation. It is the conventional method of open cut coal mining when the coal seam is relatively close to the surface and occurs in a flat orientation, as it happens at Isaac Plains. Strip mining at the Isaac Plains Mine takes place with a trench being dug to the coal seam. The overburden is taken away and stored near the trench where it can be returned once the coal has been removed. Once the overburden is removed it is top soiled and seeded as part of the mine rehabilitation process.

CHPP Handles 500 Tonnes an Hour

The coal taken from the Isaac Plains Mine is processed for export on site at the Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP). This plant has been built to handle 500 tonnes of coal an hour. The facility produces two grades of coal. The main product being metallurgical coal and the other steaming coal. The course coal circuit is made up of a pair of dense medium cyclones that have a teetered bed separator which feeds into Jameson flotation cells to process the fine coal feed. The processed coal is then stacked to be reclaimed later for loading into the railway wagons. Processed coal from the Isaac Plains open cut mine to transported to the port at Dalrymple where it is once again stored at the coal terminal to await loading onto ships for exporting overseas.

Five Individual Pits Make up the Isaac Plains Coal Mine

The Isaac Plains open cut black coal mine is made up of five individual pits, a 500 tonnes an hour coal washing plant, a train loading facility and a five kilometre railway loop. It also includes power and water reticulation and ongoing rehabilitation work. Haulage trucks take the coal from the mine site itself to the run of mill (ROM) pad from where it's fed into the CHPP.

Mining Contractor Leighton Holdings

The Isaac Plains coal mine is one of many mines operating in the coal rich Bowen Basin of Queensland. It holds tenements over 65 million tonnes of coal of which Leighton Holdings have the responsibility mining and processing on behalf of the joint venture owners. Mining contractor Leighton Holdings provide full mining services to the mine owners that includes:

Equipment used includes the operation and maintenance of a BE1370W dragline.

Sumitomo Corporation, the major shareholder in the Issac Plains coal mine located in the coal richBowen Basin in Queensland, has announced that the mine is to effectively close at the end of January 2015, when it places the operation on a care and maintenance basis. At the time of the announcement the mine was employing 300 workers.

The Issac Plains mine closure was also devastating news for mine contractor, Leighton Holdings, which had only completed 12 months of a three year contract to operate the mine. Another contractor Ausenco will also lose its contract at the mine that was due to expire in 2016. SumitomoCorporation stated the reason for the closure of the Issac Plains mine was the downturn in the international coal market.

Update July 30-2015- Queensland coal mining company Stanmore, has agreed to pay $1 for control of the mine from Brazilian mining company Vale and Japanese firm Sumitomo.

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