Sunnyside

Approval to operate the Sunnyside open cut coal mine in Queensland was granted in 2008. It was developed 15 kilometres west of Gunnedah and when in production produced about four million tonnes of raw thermal coal a year for the export market. The mined coal was trucked by road to the coal handling processing plant at Gunnedah, where it was washed and loaded onto railway wagons, that took it to the Newcastle port from where it was exported to overseas customers. The open cut mine was operated by means of the conventional excavator and truck haulage method.

In October 2012, the Sunnyside coal mine owner, Whitehaven Coal Mining, took the decision to indefinitely suspend all mining operations at the Sunnyside Mine, the same day it received government approval to develop its Maules Creek coal mine.

The Sunnyside mine was placed on care and maintenance with 23 contractors and 14 full time employees offered positions in other Whitehaven coal mining operations, despite the mine having been earmarked to close 12 months later. Although mining has been stopped at the Sunnyside mine, Whitehaven Coal has retained some personnel on site carrying out rehabilitation and environmental management work. The loss of coal production from the Sunnyside operation was offset by an increase in production from the company's Werris Creek mine. The Werris Creek coal mine had been refitted with larger sized excavators and trucks to facilitate it boosting its production capacity.

The Sunnyside coal mine had produced a high ash product that had become less attractive in the contemporary environment, it was also becoming harder to satisfactorily blend Sunnyside coal with coal produced at other Whitehaven mines. At the time of the closure of the Sunnyside mine, Whitehaven Coal Mining stated the mine could be reopened if the market demanded such a product again at a later date.

The Sunnyside open cut coal mine was operated by drilling, blasting and removal from the coal body with the assistance of heavy machinery. The coal was taken from the site via the Oxley Highway that runs to the south of the mine in order to reach the rail loading facility. The mined coal was stockpiled at the railway siding before a conveyor system loaded the coal onto the railway wagons.

The overburden emplacement area for the Sunnyside mine was situated to the north of the mine site and this stockpile of material has been used for restoration of the site so it can be rehabilitated to a level that resembled the area before mining took place in the area. Much of the area was used for grazing but there is also a colony of koala's that lived in the White Box eucalyptus trees along the encarpment that runs through the mining lease. Whitehaven Coal Mining has protected the koala colony throughout the mining operation and now it has reached the rehabilitation stage some of the rehabilitation has involved the planting of White Box eucalyptus to encourage a growth in the koala's population going forward.
†