Hail Creek ML4738

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This is mining lease ML4738 which is for the Hail Creek coal mine that is owned by Queensland Coal with 82%, Nippon Steel Australia with 8%, Marubeni Coal with 6.67% and Sumisho Coal Development with 3.33%. Rio Tinto is the owner of Queensland Coal. ML4738 falls under permit ID 107971, permit name HAIL CREEK which was approved December 15, 1977 with an expiry date of December 31, 2019. The approximate area is 20380 hectares and the authorized lease holder name is Queensland Coal PTY Limited. The lease consists of an eastern portion which is the main Hail Creek mine and a western portion which is called the Elphinstone Project Area. That area is subject to separate exploration and mine planning studies.

The coal resources at Hail Creek were discovered in 1968 and feasability work was completed in the 1970's, but construction of the mine did not start until 2001 and it was officially opened in 2003. In 2006 an expansion project increased annual production capacity from 6 to 8 million tonnes per year of hard and semi soft coking coal for export. As of the end of December 2013 current reserves were 60 million tonnes.

Hail Creek is an open cut mine utilizing draglines for most of the overburden removal, and trucks and shovels for initial overburden removal and mining of the seams. The main seams mined are the Elphinstone Seam which has an average thickness of 6.4 meters, and the Hynds Seam which averages 8.3 meters thickness. After mining the coal is washed and prepared then transported by train to the Dalrymple Bay Coal terminal.

In 2014 hail Creek applied to amend the environmental authority to support the future of the mine and extend the life of mine and the decision to proceed will be based on market conditions. Due to the nature of the steeply dipping seams and using open cut methods there is a need to move mining to other areas for underground and alternative open cut methods. The expansion will be to the north of the existing mine, a transition of open cut mining to the eastern side of Hail Creek and the potential for underground mining, working east from the existing mine pit.