Carborough Downs mine
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Carborough Downs mine is an underground metallurgical mine in the Bowen Basin of central Queensland, Australia.
The mine is owned by the AMCI Group and Riverstone, and is operated by Fitzroy Australia Resources.
Location
Background
Operations at Carborough Downs began in 2006.[1] At the time, AMCI was the owner of Carborough Downs mine. AMCI sold Carborough mine and the Broadlea North mine to Vale in 2008 for around $835 million.[2]
For about 10 years, Vale Australia operated Carborough Downs mine, producing about 2.8 million tonnes of coal per year. They expanded the mine in 2009.[3]
In 2017, AMCI subsidiary Fitzroy Queensland Resources bought 90% interest in the Carborough Downs mine and Broadlea opencut operations for an undisclosed amount.[4] Fitzroy also bought the remaining 10% interest from JFE Steel, JFE Shoji and POSCO-CD.[5]
Vale Australia had been planning to place Carborough Downs into care and maintenance in April 2017. But when Fitzroy Australia acquired the mine, the company planned to extend its life for a further 10 years.[6]
Expansion plan
An expansion of the mine was first proposed in 2006 with the Carborough Downs Joint Venture planning to increase production from the approved 1.9 million tonnes to annum to 5 million tonnes a year.[7]
The expansion was approved by the Queensland Government in early September 2022. The Minister for Resources, Scott Stewart, said the expansion would extend the life of the mine by 11 years. He said work on the expansion was expected to begin within 12 months. [8]
The 2006 proposal for the mine expansion stated that the original project was based on an estimated resource of 100 million tonnes. The original mining plan estimated a recovery rate of an estimated recovered of 40-50% and a production rate of up to 1.9 Mtpa, giving a projected mine life of approximately 30 years. Subsequent exploration work increased the estimated resource to about 300 million tonnes of in-situ resource. The joint venture estimated that with a similar recovery rate up to 150 million tonnes could be produced.[7]
Financing
ANZ, BNP Paribas and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation provided the Carborough Downs Mine with AUS$340 million (US$245 million) in debt between 2018 and 2019 to fund capital expenditure at the mine. [9][10]
Project Details
- Sponsor: Fitzroy Australia Resources[11]
- Parent Company: AMCI and Riverstone[11]
- Location: Located in central Queensland in the Bowen Basin, approximately 20 kilometres east of Moranbah and 180 kilometres southwest of Mackay.[12]
- GPS Coordinates: -21.9502, 148.2094
- Status: Operating[13]
- Capacity: 3.5 mtpa[14]
- Production: 2.4 mtpa (2022)[15]
- Total Resource: 177 Mt (Measured and Indicated, 2017) [6]
- Mineable Reserves: 33 Mt (Proven and Probable, 2017)[6] [16]
- Coal type: hard and semi-hard coking coal with pulverized coal injection (PCI) as a secondary product[12]
- Mine Size:
- Mine Type: longwall underground[12]
- Start Year: 2006[17]
- Source of Financing: AUS$340 million (US$245 million) debt financing from ANZ, BNP Paribas and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in 2018-19
Fatality at Carborough Downs
In November 2019, Fitzroy Australia suspended operations at Carborough Downs after a worker died in the mine. According to a Mining Technology article, the victim was hit by coal from the longwall face when working underground.[18]
The company resumed operations about two weeks later.[13]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ "ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934: COMPANHIA VALE DO RIO DOCE," "UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION", 2008.
- ↑ "Life after a Brazilian," Fitzroy Australia Resources website, June 22, 2017.
- ↑ "Factsheet: Carborough Downs," "Vale website," accessed June 2020.
- ↑ "Carborough Downs sold to Fitzroy," "Fitzroy Australia Resources website", June 22, 2017.
- ↑ "New life for Bowen Basin coal sites," "Industry Queensland", December 9, 2017.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "ATTACHMENT 1: PROJECT INTRODUCTION," "Fitzroy Australia Resources website," 2016.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Carborough Downs Joint Venture, Carborough Downs mine expansion project : initial advice statement, Matrix Consulting, August 2006.
- ↑ Minister for Resources Scott Stewart, "CQ mine extension shows confidence in state’s resources sector", Media Release, September 1, 2022.
- ↑ "Carborough Downs Coal Mine Additional Facility 2018", IJGlobal, accessed September 2020
- ↑ "Carborough Downs Coal Mine Additional Facility 2019", IJGlobal, accessed September 2020
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lou Caruana, "Carborough Downs sold to Fitzroy," "Australia's Mining Monthly," December 9, 2016.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "[http://www.vale.com/australia/en/business/mining/coal/carborough-downs/pages/default.aspx Carborough Downs ]," "Vale Australia website," accessed June 2020.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Salomae Haselgrove,"Fitzroy Australia restarts Carborough Downs operations," "Australian Mining," December 17, 2019.
- ↑ "Weak demand sees Peabody suspend Australian coal mine," "Argus," May 25, 2020.
- ↑ Carborough Downs Mine, Mining Data Solutions, accessed Feb 2023
- ↑ Mining Data Online, "Carborough Downs", Mining Data website, Accessed April 2021
- ↑ "List of large resource projects," "Queensland Government," accessed June 2020.
- ↑ "Fitzroy suspends operations at Carborough Downs following fatality," "Mining Technology," November 28, 2019.
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