Liddell ML1597

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This is mining lease ML1597 which is for the Liddell Coal Mine that is owned by a joint venture between Glencore Coal at 67.5%, and Mitsui Matsushima Australia at 32.5%. Liddell Coal Operations Pty Limited is the operator/manager and is owned 100% by Glencore. The lease was granted November 5, 2007 with an expiry date of November 5, 2028. The approximate area is 2065 hectares and the lease falls under Act year 1992.

Liddell uses truck and shovel as the primary mining method but also uses dragline and highwall as required. The license consent production is 8 million tonnes per annum and in 2014 it produced 4.7 mtpa of semi-soft and thermal coal which is trucked to the run of mine (ROM) stockpile at the coal receival facility. ROM coal is then reclaimed or fed into a bin then conveyed to the rotary crusher then conveyed to the Liddell coal handling and preparation plant where it is sized, washed, screened, rinsed and dewatered. It is then loaded onto trains and shipped to Newcastle via the Hunter Valley Rail Loop and Main Northern Railway Line

Liddell also produces under licence up to 0.5 mtpa of old mine tailings from previous operations which contains some residual energy of value to the local power stations. That coal is trucked along Pikes Gully Road to either the Liddell or Bayswater power stations.

The coal seams mined include the Barrett, Liddell, Arties, Pikes Gully and Lemington seams which range in thickness from 0.7 to 9.5 metres. As of June 2006 reserves were 325.1 million tonnes which gives a life of mine (LOM) of 40 years at 8mtpa.

The typical mining cycle starts with pre-stripping and stockpiling of topsoil and vegetation for use in rehabilitation. Overburden is blasted and either excavated using dragline or by shovel and hauled to storge areas to be used as fill back into the pit once coal has been removed. Once a pit has been filled the area is rehabilitated by using the previously stored topsoil and vegetation, as well as new planting.

Historically underground mining started in 1923 and open cut operations in 1946, with constant production in the 1950's. The open cut mines exploit the coal reserves that were not mined in the underground operations, and in 2014 a modification was approved to extend mining to maximise coal reserves, extending LOM to 2028.