Coppabella Coal Mine

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

Download full dataset

Report an error

Sub-articles:

Global coal mines Coal mines in China Coal mines in India Coal mines in the United States Coal mines in Australia Coal mines in Russia Coal mines in Indonesia

Related-articles:

Largest coal mines in the world Coal mine impacts from Covid-19 Environmental issues of coal Coal mining Coal reserves Coal terminals

Coppabella Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Nebo, Moranbah, Queensland, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Coppabella Coal Mine	Nebo, Queensland, Australia	-21.844554, 148.427187 (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	–	1998	2042 (planned)

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
5	1.7	2025	Surface	Open Pit	–	60*	430

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
35	2025	–	Bowen	Bituminous	Met	–

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
Coppabella and Moorvale Joint Venture (CMJV) [100.0%]	Peabody Energy [73.3%]; CITIC Australia Coppabella [14.0%]; Marubeni Corporation [7.0%]; KC Resources [3.7%]; NS Coal [2.0%]	USA, China, Japan, Singapore

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
ROM	4.25	4.26	3.61	4.21	3.19	3.92	3.54	–	–

Expansion/Extension

Table 7: Project status

* Added capacity of a coal mine refers to the enhancement in the mine's production capabilities beyond its initial production capacity.

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Added Capacity (Mtpa)*	Start Year
Proposed	Pre-Permit	Expansion	–	–	–

Reported Methane Emissions Data

Global Energy Monitor collates facility-scale methane emissions data reported by government and company sources collected in a systematic fashion. This mine is associated with the following methane emissions reports:

Table 8: Methane emissions

Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions (thousand tonnes CO2 equivalent)	Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions (thousand tonnes CH4)	Year of Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions	Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions (thousand tonnes) Reference	Reference type
–	–	–	​	–
3.1541071428571428	261.7908929	2024-25	​	national government data

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker August 2026 release.

Reported Methane Emissions Data

Global Energy Monitor collates facility-scale methane emissions data reported by government and company sources collected in a systematic fashion. This mine is associated with the following methane emissions reports:

Table 7: Methane emissions

Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions (thousand tonnes CO2 equivalent)	Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions (thousand tonnes CH4)	Year of Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions	Reported Coal Mine Methane Emissions (thousand tonnes) Reference	Reference type
3.154	261.791	2024-25	​	national government data

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker May 2026 release.

Ownership Tree

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

Background

The Coppabella coal mine is an operating metallurgical open cut mine in central Queensland, Australia. The mine is majority-owned by Peabody Energy and has been in operations since 1998. The mine has four pits – Johnson, South, Creek and East Pits.

Mining operations at Coppabella began in June 1998. After ten years of operating under a mining contract, a joint venture led by Macarthur Coal acquired Coppabella in 2008. Macarthur Coal held a 73.3% stake interest in the mine, with the other parties including CITIC Australia Coppabella, KC Resources (Kawasho Corporation), Mapella (Marubeni Corporation), NS Coal (NS Trading), and Winview (Sojitz Corporation).

In 2011, Peabody Energy acquired all of Macarthur Coal, and with it, Coppabella mine and the nearby Moorvale mine. They have been operating the mine ever since. The coal from Coppabella is exported through the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal to global seaborne demand centers.

Though production capacity has been cited as between 4.8 — 5 million tonnes of coal per year, in 2019, 2.2 million tonnes of coal were mined. Coppabella’s last mining lease expires in May 2040.

• Operator:
• Owners: Peabody Energy (73.3%), CITIC Australia Coppabella (14.0%), Marubeni Corporation (7.0%), KC Resources (3.7%), NS Coal (2.0%)
• Location: 140 km southwest of Mackay, Queensland, Australia
• Coordinates: -21.844554, 148.42718
• Status: Operating
• Capacity: 2.1 Mtpa
• Total Reserves:
• Mineable Reserves:
• Coal Type:
• Mine Type: Surface
• Workforce:
• Start Year:
• Source of Financing:

Expansion Proposal

In 2025, it was reported that a 2024 application had been submitted for the Humbug Gully Project, an expansion of the Coppabella Coal Mine, with a proposed completion date of 2042.

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
M2347.B1	mine boundary	surface	Coppabella mine boundary	extracted	2022-02-01 00:00:00
M2347.P1	other	preparation plant	Coal processing plant	extracted	2024-06-01 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 Jul 11, 2025

ID	Notes
M2347.B1	Coppabella mine is part of the Coppabella Moorvale Joint Venture (CMJV). From the Technical Report Summary Coppabella-Moorvale Joint Venture (CMJV) from 2/2022, https://web.archive.org/web/20230523200452/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1064728/000106472822000008/btu_20211231xex964.htm, the table in section 1.2 Property Description lists mining leases for Coppabella mine as follows: ML 70161 (Johnson); ML 70163 (Johnson Extended); ML 70164 (Johnson Extended No. 2); ML 70236 (Coppabella East); ML 70237 (Coppabella South); ML 70384 (Johnson Extended No. 3); ML 70385 (Johnson Extended No. 4); ML 70386 (Johnson Extended No. 5); ML 70387 (Johnson Extended No. 6). Note that mining leases ML 70236 (Coppabella East) and ML 70237 (Coppabella South) both expired 2023. The boundary includes all nine mining leases above and has an area of approximately 39 sq km. Mining lease geometries were extracted from the Queensland Mining Leases dataset (https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/queensland-mining-and-exploration-tenure-series/resource/f87794b8-7b9a-4732-89bb-56ccb2228d27).
M2347.P1	Identified visually from Google Earth Pro satellite imagery.

Methane Plumes Detected Nearby

Global Energy Monitor researchers analyze satellite-detected methane plumes in order to determine whether they have been observed at or near the site of GEM energy assets. The satellite data provider creates imagery of individual methane plumes and estimates their emission rates at the time of observation. GEM has reviewed many of these plume detections against Google Earth imagery and GEM’s own energy infrastructure tracker data. The following table lists methane plumes which are associated with the energy asset or facility based on distance and manual review. (A full description of the analysis process is available in the Global Methane Emitters Tracker methodology wiki page.)

Table M1: Plume details

For additional details on this individual plume identification and others, see the Global Methane Emitters Tracker.

Observation date	Satellite data provider	Location of plume origin	Methane emissions rate	Additional plume information
2025-01-23T01:04:14+00	CarbonMapper, emi20250123t010414p16028-A	-21.8477, 148.4636	–	Queensland State Methane Observation 2025-01-23, 1
2025-07-14T01:10:15+00	CarbonMapper, tan20250714t011015c43s4001-A	-21.8479, 148.4493	–	Queensland State Methane Observation 2025-07-14, 1

Articles and Resources

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.