Mannering

The Mannering underground coal mine located near Morisset in the Newcastle Coalfields of New South Wales, that is owned by Centennial Mannering, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centennial Coal Company Limited, was closed and placed on care and maintenance in January 2013.

Mannering was Purchased by Centennial Coal While on Care and Maintenance
The Mannering Mine was purchased by Centennial Coal in 2002 from Powercoal, when, at that time, it was also under care and maintenance. Before its closure the Mannering underground coal mine was operated by means of a continuous miner, mining thermal coal for the domestic market as fuel for the Vales Point Power Station. In 2011, 0.56 million tonnes of thermal coal was produced at the Mannering coal mine. All this production was taken to the nearby Vales Point Power Station by a dedicated overland conveyor system.

Mannering is a Small Underground Mine
The Mannering Coal mine is a small operation situated at Mannering Park in the southern Lake Macquarie area. Although Centennial Coal purchased the mine from the NSW government owned Powercoal in 2002, it wasn't reopened as a working mine to supply fuel for the Vales Point Power Station until 2004.

Hope Remains That the Mannering Mine Might one day Re-open
Although the Mannering underground mine has been once again placed on care and maintenance, it has retained a small number of employees at the site to ensure safety and environmental requirements are complied with. There is also a small project team on site investigating different designs that could allow the mine to re-open again in the future should market conditions improve.

Mannering Mine Struggling Financially Before Closure
Before the decision was made to close the Mannering Mine it had been accepted that it was running at a financial loss because of poor quality coal, difficult mining conditions and low coal prices. Despite the mine closing, all might not be lost, as Australia's thermal coal exports grew by 23 percent in 2011-12 when compared to the previous year. The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics forecast at the time that the 2012-13 financial year will see a further improvement in export volumes that should outweigh the lower prices. It forecast coal export earnings to increase to $19 billion for the year. Australia lost its place as the world's leading thermal coal exporter to Indonesia in 2006.

Coal Still has a Future in Power Generation
Black coal, such as that mined at the Mannering Mine, is used to produce almost 55 percent of Australia's total electricity production. Brown coal accounts for around 22 percent. In NSW black coal is used to produce 90 percent of the state's electricity needs. On a world wide basis coal is used to generate 42 percent of global needs. Although it is generally accepted that coal will eventually be overtaken by natural gas and other non-fossil fuels, this is not true at the present time, as coal remains the cheapest and most efficient producer of energy.

Without an economically viable breakthrough in the production of 'clean coal,' such as a cheaper gas/coal combined cycle generation, coal remains the only real choice. The world is at the crossroad regarding its power generation future, particularly the type of generation mix that can be utilised in future years. To this end there still might be some hope that the Mannering underground coal mine could still play a role at some future date.
Cheap and plentiful natural gas will no doubt slow the demand for thermal coal but that time is not yet with us and may not become realistic until the next decade.
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