Moorlands

The CuestaCoal Moorlands coal mining project in Queensland's western Bowen Basin, is located 30 kilometres to the west of Clermont. The Moorlands project with a coal resource of 146.1 million tonnes and a strike length of around 13 kilometres, will have a life of mine of around 30 years with a production rate of about two million tonnes a year of run-of-mine (ROM) coal. It is a significant development situated 14 kilometres from existing mining infrastructure at the now closed Blair Athol coal mine.

Moorlands to Produce a high Volatile Bituminous Thermal Coal
The coal to be mined at the Moorlands open pit, when it comes on line, will be a high volatile bituminous thermal black coal that, when washed, has ash values within the range of 9 to 15 percent.

Moorlands Project Major Shareholder is Chinese Investment Company Beijing Guoli
CuestaCoal's major shareholder is Beijing Guoli, a Chinese state owned energy investment company. Beijing Guoli holds its interest in CuestaCoal through its wholly owned Australian subsidiary Longluck Investments (Australia) Pty Ltd. Beijing Guoli received approval from the Chinese government to invest in CuestaCoal on June 5, 2013 after CuestaCoal acquired the project from Hannigan and Associates, Orion Coal, in 2012.

Moorlands to be CuestaCoals First Open pit Coal Mine
The Moorlands project has become CuestaCoal's flagship development and once production starts in 2016 will be its first operating open pit coal mine in Australia since the company was formed.

Moorlands Project to Negotiate Infrastructure Usage
QuestaCoal is hoping to utilise existing infrastructure to get its product to the coast for exporting overseas as the Moorlands project is only 14 kilometres from the now unused infrastructure at the recently closed Rio Tinto owned Blair Athol mine. Coal mined at Blair Athol was loaded onto trains and transported the 280 kilometres by rail to the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, from where it was loaded onto ships to be taken to overseas customers. The Moorlands project is also located 30 kilometres east of the proposed Hancock Coal Pty Ltd railway that, when constructed, will be taking coal from its Alpha Project to the Abbott Point port.

The Moorlands coal body will be mined by means of open pit method with low strip ratios. This will result in less capital required for the start up process. This, and the ability to negotiate use of existing infrastructure, will deliver obvious financial benefits that go a long way to making the operation feasible.

Coal Discovered in the Moorlands Basin in 1979
Coal was discovered in the Moorlands Basin by Pacific Coal in 1979. two separate holes identified the seam at a depth of 96 metres. In 1985 further exploration extended the resource with three main coal seams being identified, these being the; Kalbar-2, Kalbar-1 and Monteagle. In 1993- 1994 a comprehensive survey identified a 13 kilometre long and from one to two and a half kilometre wide highly prospective zone. Up to 13 coal seams have since been identified in the Moorlands Basin.
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