Cook Colliery Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Cook Colliery Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Blackwater, Queensland, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Cook Colliery Coal Mine	Blackwater, Queensland, Australia	-23.7159074, 148.8893157 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1970	–

Table 3: Operation details

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	0.099	2024	Underground	Bord and Pillar	–	500.0	220

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
9.0	2019	210.0	Blackwater	Bituminous	Thermal & Met	Port of Gladstone

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Note: To access more comprehensive data on energy ownership, please visit the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
QCoal [100%]	QCoal [100%]	Australia

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	0.53	0.13	0.54	0.28	–	0.02	0.17

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker May 2025 release.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

The Cook Colliery is an underground coal mine located approximately 27 kilometers south of Blackwater in Queensland, Australia.

The mine was put on care and maintenance in December 2019, but returned to an operational status in February 2022. The mine is currently owned by QCoal, but ownership has changed hands at least three times throughout the past 20 years. The mine recently restarted operations in 2021 after being put on care and maintenance in 2019.

Mining began at Cook colliery in 1970. In 2003, ownership of the Cook colliery Xstrata Coal Australia was split between Xstrata Coal Australia Limited, with 50% interest, Centennial Coal Company Ltd with 45% interest, and Tokyo Boeki Australia Pty Ltd with 5% interest. In 2004, Xstrata Coal bought Centennial’s interest, bringing their interest to 95%.

In 2006, Xstrata Coal sold its majority stake in Cook Colliery to UK-based Caledon Resources for $A45.6 million. At the time, the mine’s life was estimated to be 20 years with an annual production target of 2 million tonnes per annum.

Bounty Mining acquired the mine in 2017 for $31.5 million. The mine experienced a roof-fall in October 2019, which caused a 23,000-tonne run-of-mine (ROM) loss in production for October. Additionally, the company estimated a further indirect loss of 150,000 tonnes ROM and 135,000 tonnes of reserves as a result of the roof fall.

The company was placed into voluntary administration in December 2019, and the mine was put on care and maintenance.

According to a Bounty press release, “The appointment follows a period of depressed coking coal prices, production shortfalls in the wake of the previously announced roof-falls, and the inability of the board to source the additional funds required to support the company in its transition to place change mining.

In April 2020, QCoal announced they would be acquiring Bounty Mining’s business, assets and subsidiaries including the Cook Colliery. In addition to the underground coal mine, QCoal would gain access to the other infrastructure at the colliery. According to an Australian Mining article, this includes a 13 kilometre paved haulage road, a coal holding plant, coal storage and handling for both coking and thermal coal, rail infrastructure and two active tailings storage facilities.

In February 2022, the mothballed Cook Colliery restarted operations.

On November 28, 2025, QCoal announced that their Cook Colliery underground mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin was placed into care and maintenance following the closure of its final production unit, citing rising production costs, market pressures, and the current coal royalty regime. Approximately 150 jobs were affected.

• Operator: Metarock Group Limited (Mastermyne)
• Owner: QCoal
• Location: Located 29km south of Blackwater, and about 200km west of Rockhampton in Queensland.
• GPS Coordinates: -23.7159074, 148.8893157
• Status: Operating
• Production Capacity: 406,000 Mt
• Total Resource: 210 million tonnes (Mt)
• Mineable Reserves:
• Coal Type: Bituminous (80% Metallurgical; 20% Thermal)
• Mine Size:
• Mine Type: Underground (longwall & bord and pillar)
• Start Year: 1970, 2022 (restart)
• Source of Financing:

Coal Mine Boundaries and Methane Sources

Global Energy Monitor researchers have identified coal mine boundary/boundaries and potential sources of coal mine methane (CMM) for this mine. These research results can be used to drive CMM attribution and mitigation efforts, particularly when combined with remotely sensed methane plume locations and mine ownership data. Explore the results with the embedded map at the top of this page by clicking on the mine boundary polygon or the CMM placemarkers to reveal more details. A detailed description of this research can be found in Coal Mine Boundaries and Methane Sources. This data is also available as a downloadable companion dataset to the Global Coal Mine Tracker and the Global Methane Emitters Tracker.

Table SMP1: Coal mine boundaries and methane sources data

ID	Mine feature category	Mine feature subcategory	Description	Coordinates precision	Data source date
M1531.B1	mine boundary	underground	Cook Colliery coal mine total mining leases boundary	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M1531.B2	mine boundary	underground	Cook Colliery mining lease: ML 1768	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M1531.B3	mine boundary	underground	Cook Colliery mining lease: ML 1769	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M1531.B4	mine boundary	underground	Cook Colliery mining lease: ML 1779	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M1531.B5	mine boundary	underground	Cook Colliery mining lease: ML 1799	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M1531.B6	mine boundary	underground	Cook Colliery mining lease: ML 7357	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M1531.P1	other	preparation plant	Coal handling and preparation plant	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M1531.P4	other	slope access or production shaft	Underground access portals	extracted	2023-08-02 00:00:00
M1531.P5	ventilation system	vent	Return air shaft and fan house	extracted	2023-08-02 00:00:00
M1531.P6	other	shaft	Second express shaft	extracted	2023-08-02 00:00:00

Table SMP2: Coal mine boundaries and methane sources data (continued)

Coal mine boundaries and methane sources were last researched for this mine on Jun 16, 2025

ID	Notes
M1531.B1	The mining lease boundaries of the Cook Colliery coal mine were downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue's (QSpatial) Mining Leases boundary data, https://web.archive.org/web/20250925133756/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page. The five relevant mining leases were confirmed to be part of the Cook Colliery mine in a 2019 Bounty Mining Ltd document, https://web.archive.org/save/https://minedocs.com/11/Cook_Colliery_Resource_Update_08212019.pdf ), and a polygon was then extracted at the outer boundary of all adjacent mining lease areas. The approximate area within the boundary is 171 square km.
M1531.B2	The boundary is for mining lease ML 1768 and is one of five mining lease boundaries compile the Cook Colliery coal mine. The boundary was downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue's (QSpatial) Mining Leases boundary data, https://web.archive.org/web/20250603154047/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page
M1531.B3	The boundary is for mining lease ML 1769 and is one of five mining lease boundaries compile the Cook Colliery coal mine. The boundary was downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue's (QSpatial) Mining Leases boundary data, https://web.archive.org/web/20250603154047/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page
M1531.B4	The boundary is for mining lease ML 1779 and is one of five mining lease boundaries compile the Cook Colliery coal mine. The boundary was downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue's (QSpatial) Mining Leases boundary data, https://web.archive.org/web/20250603154047/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page
M1531.B5	The boundary is for mining lease ML 1799 and is one of five mining lease boundaries compile the Cook Colliery coal mine. The boundary was downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue's (QSpatial) Mining Leases boundary data, https://web.archive.org/web/20250603154047/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page
M1531.B6	The boundary is for mining lease ML 7357 and is one of five mining lease boundaries compile the Cook Colliery coal mine. The boundary was downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue's (QSpatial) Mining Leases boundary data, https://web.archive.org/web/20250603154047/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page
M1531.P1	The Coal Handling and Preparation Plant is described and mapped in the linked Bounty Mining Limited 2018 Prospectus ( https://web.archive.org/save/https://hotcopper.com.au/data/announcements/ASX/2A1086479_B2Y.pdf ). The map was corroborated with satellite imagery from 2023 and the location was extracted using Google Earth Pro.
M1531.P4	The inclined access shaft was identified in Bounty Mining Ltd documents and visually extracted from satellite imagery. Per the Bounty Mining Ltd 2018 Prospectus: "Access to the mine workings is via an inclined winch car on steel rails operated via the surface winder house. This same inclined shaft arrangement is used for transportation of men and material.", page 184 https://web.archive.org/save/https://hotcopper.com.au/data/announcements/ASX/2A1086479_B2Y.pdf, and shown in Figure 7-2 : Aerial View of the Surface Infrastructure at Cook Colliery Mine Site, page 188.
M1531.P5	Identified using Figure 7-2 : Aerial View of the Surface Infrastructure at Cook Colliery Mine Site, page 188, of the Bounty Mining Ltd 2018 Prospectus, https://web.archive.org/save/https://hotcopper.com.au/data/announcements/ASX/2A1086479_B2Y.pdf, and extracted using Google Earth Pro satellite imagery.
M1531.P6	Identified using Figure 7-2 : Aerial View of the Surface Infrastructure at Cook Colliery Mine Site, page 188, of the Bounty Mining Ltd 2018 Prospectus, https://web.archive.org/save/https://hotcopper.com.au/data/announcements/ASX/2A1086479_B2Y.pdf, and extracted using Google Earth Pro satellite imagery.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.