Blackwater Colliery-Coal Mine

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The Blackwater and South Blackwater open-cut mines are owned by the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) whose beneficial owners are BHP Billiton Ltd and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd. The mines are located 24 km south of Blackwater and are operated by BMA. Medium volatile hard coking coal, medium volatile weak coking coal and medium volatile thermal coal is exported to Japan, Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East. Thermal coal is also sold to the domestic market. Saleable coal production for the combined operation is approximately 14 Mtpa. Measured and Indicated coal resources are 877 million tonnes for Blackwater and Blackwater South (2003). Reported workforce for Blackwater and South Blackwater combined in 2003 is 625.

Operations

BMA (BHP Billiton) owns and operates seven Bowen Basin mines – Goonyella Riverside, Broadmeadow, Peak Downs, Saraji, Norwich Park, Gregory Crinum, and Blackwater – and the Hay Point terminal near Mackay. We also manage the South Walker Creek and Poitrel mines, owned by BHP Billiton (80 per cent) and Mitsui and Co. (20 per cent).

The mines are located in the coal-rich Bowen Basin of Central Queensland, which covers an area of 75,000km² of Permian Age marine and freshwater sediments. The basin is roughly triangular in shape, extending around 550km from its northern peak at Collinsville, southwards to its base at Theodore, where it is approximately 250 km wide.

With the exception of the Crinum and Broadmeadow underground longwall operations, our mines are open-cut, using dragline and truck/shovel fleets for overburden removal. Coal seams are mined by front end loader and hydraulic excavators, and coal is transported to mine preparation plants by large capacity haul trucks.

Blackwater is one of the largest open-cut coal mines in Australia, producing almost 14 million tonnes of coking and thermal coal a year. The mine is located 24km south of the town of Blackwater and 315km west of the port of Gladstone.

Reference for information:
www.bowenbasin.cqu.edu.au/basin_data/operating.html

www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/ourBusinesses/metallurgicalCoal/...

Reference for location:
bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=264394&c=3&x=148%2E85932094863&y=%...