Bowen Coking Coal, an Australian coking coal exploration company, said that it has started coal mining at the Broadmeadow East project in Queensland, Australia.
Broadmeadow East, which is located near Moranbah in the Bowen Basin, was acquired by Bowen Coking Coal from Peabody Energy in 2020.
Mining at the project follows the formal approval from the Queensland government for an amendment to the existing Environmental Authority in March 2022.
Bowen Coking Coal managing director and CEO Gerhard Redelinghuys said: “The fact that we have commenced coal mining in less than four months from final approvals being granted is a great testament to the hard work and capabilities of our company and contractors.”
The coal extracted from the Broadmeadow East mine is intended to be processed initially at the neighbouring Fitzroy coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) under an infrastructure sharing deal with Fitzroy (CQ).
The processed coal will be exported via the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal.
The Broadmeadow East coking coal project is the first producing pit of Bowen Coking Coal’s expanded Burton Complex. Th other projects in the complex include the Burton and Lenton pits.
Bowen Coking Coal said that coal from Broadmeadow East will be processed through the Burton CHPP after the completion of refurbishment of the plant in early 2023.
The coking coal project hosts a 33Mt resource. It is planned initially to be mined via conventional truck and shovel open cut mining at a rate of 0.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa)-1mtpa per annum over a period of 5-7 years.
Bowen Coking Coal claimed that the coal mined at the Broadmeadow East project has the flexibility to produce a primary coking coal product of high quality or high yield. The first coal from the project follows the miner’s first coal shipment in June 2022 from the Bluff Mine located in the southern Bowen Basin near Blackwater.
