Suttor creek

The Suttor Creek black coal mine is situated 19 kilometres from the mining town of Glenden and 850 kilometres from Brisbane in Queensland. The mine is part of the Newlands NCA joint venture that consists of Xstrata Coal Queensland, Itochu Coal Resources Australia, Sumisho Coal Australia and ICRA NCA Pty Ltd.

Suttor Creek Coal is Exported Across the World

High energy, medium, volatile bituminous coal is mined from the Suttor Creek pit for export to Europe, South East Asia, Korea and Japan. ROM (run of mine) coal production at the Newlands mining operation is around 10.6 million tonnes a year and the workforce at all the Newlands operations in the area, including the Suttor Creek mine, is over 1,500 people.

Coal Production Commenced at Suttor Creek in 2004

Newlands acquired the Suttor Creek mining lease in 1994 and were granted environmental approval from the Queensland government in 2000 to go ahead with the project. Open cut mining of the coal seam got under- way in February 2004. The coal from Suttor Creek is taken to the Newlands Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP) as there are no reject dumps or tailings area at the Suttor Creek mine site. Other Newlands operations that share resources such as the coal handling and preparation plant with the Suttor Creek open cut mine are; the Newlands longwall underground operation, the Collinsville open cut mine and the coal terminal at Abbot Point that is owned by the Queensland Ports Corporation.

A Coal Mine in Beef Cattle Country

The Suttor Creek open cut mine is situated in a beef cattle grazing area of the Nebo Shire in the Bowen Basin region, therefore, before mining could be undertaken the site had to be cleared of vegetation, top soil and overburden etc. All of which had to be stockpiled for its eventual re-use in rehabilitation of the area after the underlying coal seam has been removed. Draglines are used at Suttor Creek to remove the overburden and therefore expose the coal for mining.

Coal Resources Available Until 2038

The total resource of coal in the Suttor Creek, Eastern Creek and Newlands mining lease area generally is estimated to be 287 million tonnes with a corresponding 92 million tonnes of run of mine (ROM) coking and thermal coal. The total project is estimated to comprise the following:

22 million tonnes of thermal coal from the Newlands underground operation to 2026

70 million tonnes of coking and thermal coal from extended open cut operations to 2038

Coal is the Lifeblood of Glenden

The Suttor Creek open cut along with the other Newlands operations are the lifeblood of the nearby Glenden community. The company owns most of the houses at Glenden and rents them out at a highly subsidised rental to its mining employees. This makes businesses servicing the town economically beneficial. The mines contribute over $100 million a year to the federal and state governments in the way of taxes, royalties and other charges.

The town of Glenden currently has a population of approximately 1,360 permanent residents and 637 contractors and mine workers considered to be non residents who work on a rotational basis but who otherwise live outside of the town.

As around 95 percent of the housing at Glenden is owned by Xstrata Coal for leasing to its mine workers there is a shortage of both temporary and permanent housing in the town. Short term contractors employed at the mines are often forced to find private accommodation outside of Glenden. However, housing affordability is not considered to be a problem in the area.