Roa

The ROA coal mine on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand, is operated by ROA Mining Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of New Zealand Coal and Carbon Limited (NZCC). NZCC is the largest non-government coal mining company is New Zealand. The mine is located in the Greymouth Coalfield, 30 kilometres north east of the town of Greymouth.

ROA is an Underground Mining Operation With Surface Processing
The ROA mine is, in the main, an underground mining operation. The mine produces a high quality coking coal that is purchased for speciality and foundary coking as well as for metallurgical coking and other carbon products. Coal is mined at the ROA underground mine by means of the bord and pillar method along with hydro monitor techniques before it is pumped to the surface in pipelines, as a slurry, where is is processed at the on site coal processing plant.

Once processed, the coal is stockpiled at the mine site before it is taken by road transport to the company's rail loading facility located at Stillwater. The coal is then taken by rail across the Southern Alps, to the port at Lyttelton, near Christchurch on the East Coast, a distance of 190 kilometres, The coal is exported out of the Lyttelton Port in ships carrying loads of up to 65,000 metric tonnes. Coal mined at the ROA mine is also able to be taken to the closer Greymouth port on the West Coast where it can be loaded onto barges and ships with a carrying capacity of 8,000 metric tonnes. The coal taken from the ROA mine is undertaken as specific cargo only, in an effort to maintain its high quality while being transported to customers in Europe, South America, India, China and Japan. Special care is taken while the coal is being transported to avoid any chance of it becoming contaminated.

Coal Mining Began in the ROA Area in 1907
Mining in the ROA mine area began as far back as 1907, with the establishment of the Paparoa Coal Company, following a geological survey that was undertaken in 1903 and 1904. This company continued operating up until 1947 when it was acquired by New Zealand State Coal Mines. Mining finally ceased in 1971 after more than 1.6 million tonnes of coal had been mined from two seams, the Kimbell and Morgan seams.

Interest in the ROA coal reserves was renewed in 1980 when 6,100 tonnes was mined from an open pit operation west of the old workings. The Francis Mining Company Limited acquired the ROA mining leases in 1988 and set about expanding the open cut workings. This continued until a further 250,000 tonnes of coal was extracted before the pit was finally mined out in 1995. Throughout this period of development coal from the ROA deposit was marketed as an ash trimmer with low sulphur and high vitrinite for export to worldwide coke producers.

A access decline was started in 1999 to intersect the older underground workings. The drive was completed in January 2000. The ROA Mining Company was formed on August 2001 with Coaltrac AG having a partial shareholding. This shareholding was restructured in 2009 when ROA Mining was taken over by New Zealand Coal and Carbon Limited.

The ROA mine has undergone considerable expansion since 2001 that has included the construction of a workshop and primary wash plant, this was completed in the first half of 2004 and since then ongoing development has been taking place underground.
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