Yarrabee

The Yarrabee open cut black coal mine in Queensland is owned by Yancoal Australia Limited who acquired it from Felix Resources Pty Ltd in 2009. Yancoal, in turn, is owned by Yanzhou Coal Mining Company of China which is listed on the New York, Hong Kong, and Shanghai stock exchanges.

From Small Beginnings to a Major Open Cut Coal Mine

The site where the Yarrabee open pit mine is located once contained a privately owned small coal mine that operated from 1982 until it was sold to Felix Resources in 2004. It currently employs around 340 people and produces an average of 2.8 million tonnes of coal a year.

Coal Mined at Yarrabee is Sold Throughout the World

The Yarrabee coal mine is located 40 kilometres from Blackwater in the Bowen Basin Region of Queensland, 280 kilometres from the port at Gladstone. The project area contains exploration permits and mining leases covering 29,300 hectares. The coal produced at the mine is transported by road haulage 37 kilometres to the loading facility at Boonal, which is part of the Blackwater system. From Boonal it is taken by rail to the export terminals Barney Point and RG Tanna at Gladstone for shipping to overseas customers. The coal exported is both thermal and high energy, low volatile, pulverised coal injection (PCI) of export grade that is sought after by steel makers and general heavy industry throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Places where PCI coal is otherwise quite limited.

Production Continually Increasing

Coal production at the Yarrabee coal mine has steadily grown from an output of 1.5 million tonnes in 2005, more than 2.5 million tonnes in 2011to 2.8 million tonnes in 2012 and when the Wiggins Island Coal Terminal is completed at Gladstone production is expected to increase to 3.2 million tonnes.

Large Reserves Promise a Long Future

The Yarrabee mine consists of a number of open pits some of them are blended at the CHPP (coal handling preparation plant) while others are sold in their unwashed state. The CHPP has a capacity of handling up to 350 tonnes of coal an hour. Because the tenement holdings have still to be completely explored, and the potential for further discovery is high, studies are taking place to determine the best way to handle increased production requirements. The current measured resource is 65 million tonnes, indicated resource 84.3 million tonnes and inferred resource 20.5 million tonnes. Proved reserves stand at 42.7 million tonnes and probable reserves 14.6 ROM million tonnes available in multiple seams.

Coal Recovered in the Conventional Manner

Coal at the Yarrabee mine is recovered in the conventional shovel and truck method with coal from the pits taken to the CHPP. The CHPP which can handle up to 350 tonnes of coal an hour washes sixty percent of the run-of-mill (ROM) coal. Unwashed coal can bypass the CHPP to be placed in stockpiles depending on it market acceptability.

Safety a Major Policy at the Yarrabee Coal Mine

When the Wiggins Island Coal Terminal at Gladstone is completed the Barney Point Terminal will be closed. This will mean Yarrabee coal will have a 3.5 million tonne allocation at the Gladstone port. The expansion necessary to enable the company to take full advantage of the increased allocation at Gladstone will rely a lot on the mines strong safety culture. The Yarrabee mines safety campaign is ongoing which has resulted in a stable and safe operating environment. This has contributed to the mines relatively low labour turnover.