Moolarben

The Moolarben Coal Complex in the New South Wales Western Coalfields is located 25 kilometres from Gulgong and 45 kilometres from Mudgee. It covers an area of 110 square kilometres (11,000 hectares). The mine is operated by Moolarben Coal Operations Pty Ltd on behalf of Yancoal Australia, Sojitz Moolarben Resources Pty Ltd and Kores Australia Moolarben Coal Pty Ltd. It is regarded as a world class asset.

The Moolarben Mine Currently Consists of an Open pit With Underground Mining in the Future

The Moolarben Mine is operated as an open cut that produces export quality thermal coal. An underground thermal coal mine is also being developed on the site. The Moolarben Complex is situated near the Xstrata/Mitsubishi Ulan Coal Mine and the Peabody Wilpinjong Coal Mine.

A Coal Resource of Over one Billion Tonnes at the Moolarben Mine Site

Current black coal resources and reserves for both the open cut and underground Moolarben operation total 1.2 billion tonnes in resource and 315 million tonnes in reserves that are located along the Ulan coal seam that has a rather steady thickness of 12 metres throughout. This makes for a relatively simple low strip ratio mining operation

Moolarben CHPP has a 13.5 Million Tonnes of Coal a Year Capacity

The Moolarben CHPP (coal handling and preparation plant) has a capacity to handle 13.5 million tonnes of coal annually and when this is considered with the low strip ratio of 3.3 it places the mine in a very competitive position among Australian coal mines generally as regards coal mining costs.

Moolarben Coal Mine owner, Yancoal Australia, is in the process of increasing the CHPP capacity to better cater for the underground production when it comes on line. The underground coal will not require washing but if the higher ash coal that could be mined in the future ever comes on line it will need a washing facility.

Yancoal to Introduce Longwall Top Coal Caving Technique to the Moolarben Underground Mine

It is planned that longwall underground mining will start at the Moolarben underground mine in 2016 to coincide with the new Port Waratah Coal Services port expansion program being opened at the same time. The underground operation being undertaken in the LTCC (Longwall Top Coal Caving) method being employed that Yancoal introduced into Australian mining at its Austar Mine in 2006.

Top coal caving is a modified long wall mining method that allows for the removal of thick coal seams from five to 12 metres in thickness being excavated with one pass of the longwall machine. This results in higher productivity and improved economic returns. It is especially suited to the recovery of coal from thick seam deposits. It accesses an extra 80 percent of coal from the coal seam, a significant improvement in coal recovery.

Moolarben Coal Taken to Port by Rail

The Moolarben mine utilises an established railway loop and train loading facility that is capable of loading railway wagons within the time cycle expected of Yancoal. The coal is then taken by rail to the port at Newcastle for export.

When at full production the Moolarben Coal Mine will be able to produce 17 million tonnes a year of ROM (run-of-mine) coal from the efforts of a workforce totalling 450 people. 500 people have been employed on the project throughout the construction stage.