Middlemount

Middlemount is an open cut coal mine in the coal rich Bowen Basin Region of Queensland, 90 kilometres north east of Emerald. The mine is owned and operated as the Middlemount Coal Joint Venture between Peabody Energy and Yancoal on a close to 50/50 arrangement.

The Middlemount Mine was Nathan Tinklers First Deal
The Middlemount coal mine was fallen billionaire, Nathan Tinkler's, first
big business deal. It is an open cut mine that produces semi hard coking coal and a low volatile pulverised coal injection product for the export market. It took four years to get the mine infrastructure completed but it was soon producing up to expectations and went a long way towards contributing to Tinkler's, then, fast growing wealth. The coal is exported through the Abbot Point Port and the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal. The Middlemount Mine was the first coal mine to be developed in the Bowen Basin since 2007.

Middlemount Operating at Full Scale by the end of 2011
The Middlemount Mine was operating at full scale by November 2011 and it was soon fast approaching its full potential of producing 3.8 million tonnes of saleable coal on an annual basis. When Peabody and Yancoal acquired ownership of the mine it was decided to transition the day to day operation from contract miner NRW Holding Limited to an owner operator mine. This transition is expected to be finalised by mid 2013.

Middlemount Owners Take Over Mine Operation From NRW Contractors
Mining contractor NRW began managing the Middlemount Mine in July 2011 and in February 2013 came to an agreement with the joint venture partners to change their contract to a dry hire contract only. The new arrangement now requires NRW to provide maintenance services to the mine fleet that consists of the following:
Four 16M graders
One 24M grader
Three water carts
Six D11 dozers
Nine 190 tonne dump trucks
Six 140 tonne rigid dump trucks
Seventeen 220 tonne dump trucks
One 350 tonne shovel
Two 190 tonne excavators
Two 550 tonne excavators
Mining operations at the Middlemount mine utilises the conventional truck and shovel method of open cut coal mining. The run-of-mine (ROM) coal is washed on-site in a plant that can handle 5.3 million tonnes a year. The mine currently has reserves of 96 million tonnes and holds resources totalling 123 million tonnes of coal.

Middlemount Lease Granted in 2009
The lease to mine the Middlemount coal deposit was granted in 2009. Construction of the coal handling preparation plant (CHPP) commenced soon after and the first coal to be processed through the coal washing facility occurred in September 2010. The first fully processed washed PCI quality coal was taken by train to the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal in mid 2011. A northern missing link railway linking the mine to the Abbot Point coal terminal was completed in late 2011.
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Expansion Gives Middlemount a Life of 19 More Years
Owing to the demand for Middlemount coal from overseas steel makers, the operation has had to expand its operations. Stage two of the mine development commenced in mid 2011 with the intention to expand production of ROM coal to 5.4 million tonnes a year. The mine expansion took in Thirteen Mile Gully and along Roper Creek. The coal mined from this expansion was similar to that previously being mined realising 60 percent of coking coal and 40 percent PCI coal. As a result coal production increased to the planned 5.4 million tonne a year which on known reserves gives the mine an extra life of least another19 years.
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