Moorvale

The Moorvale black coal mine is operated as an open cut mine in the Bowen Basin 156 kilometres south west of Mackay. It produces thermal, coking and low-volatile PCI (pulverised coal injection) coal for the export market.

Moorvale Coal Mine Owned by International Miner, Peabody

The Moorvale Coal Mine is owned by Peabody Energy Australia, a subsidiary of international miner Peabody. The operation of the mine is carried out by Leighton Contractors who employ approximately 340 direct workers and contractors at the site who work 12 hour shifts of either four days on and four days off, or seven days on and seven days off. Many employees reside at either Mackay, Nebo or Moranbah, although camp accommodation is available and the mine provides a bus service between local accommodation, camp accommodation and the mine site.

Leighton Holdings are Moorvale Mine's Contract Operators

Moorvale Mine operator, Leighton Contractors, have been involved with the mine right from its beginnings when it was awarded an initial three year contract to remove 24 million bank cubic metres of overburden and eight million tonnes of coal by the then owners, Macarthur Coal, AMCI, Marubeni Corporation, Nissho Iwai Corporation, Kawasho Corporation and Nippon Steel. The joint venture was then managed by APC (Australian Premium Coals). The first coal was mined at the Moorvale Mine in 2002. Peabody Energy Australia acquired the mine in 2011.

A Difficult Coal Seam to Work on

Leighton Contractors found the development of the Moorvale Mine particularly challenging because of the coal seam being quite narrow with a number of fault lines whilst at the same time having deeply dipping characteristics. It required a lot of planning and expertise in working the pit satisfactorily. This required excavators often having to work in confined areas causing scheduling and safety concerns on more than one occasion. The three piles that make up the Moorvale coal seams are mined independently of each other.

Mining at the Moorvale Mine is carried out with one RH340 excavator, two RH170 excavators and two PC5500 excavators. These excavators are serviced by five CAT793F dump trucks, ten 830E dump trucks and twelve 630E dump trucks. Mining contractor Leighton Holdings maintain and operate the Peabody's Komatsu mining fleet along with all of its own mining equipment.

Leighton's Contract Extended to 2013

In February, 2012, Leighton Contractors had their Moorvale mine contract extended to September 2013.The renewed contract included the continuing provision of operational mining services, fleet maintenance and management of the operation.

The mine produces four million tonnes of run-of-mine (ROM) coal annually and there is estimated to be 33 million tonnes of recoverable coal available at the site. Sufficient, at this stage, to guarantee production to at least 2016. It is presently planned to introduce underground mining at Moorvale when open pit mining at the site becomes exhausted.

Mined coal at the Moorvale open pit is stockpiled while waiting to be processed. The overburden is hauled to specific waste dumps to await rehabilitation. Rehabilitation of the site is carried out as soon as possible after the coal in that particular area has been removed. At the end of 2011, 191 hectares had already been reclaimed, with the rehabilitated area doing well.