Dartbrook Coal Mine

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Dartbrook Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Moranbah, New South Wales, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Dartbrook Coal Mine	Moranbah, New South Wales, Australia	-32.1929124, 150.894282 (exact)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1993	–

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
6	–	–	Underground	Bord and Pillar	32.8	500*	784*

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
370	2018	2534	Hunter	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Australian Pacific Coal	Australian Pacific Coal	Australia

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the GEM April 2024 Global Coal Mine Tracker dataset.

Background

The Dartbrook Mine is a coal mine with underground operations located approximately 4 kilometers west of Aberdeen and 10 km north-west of Muswellbrook, in Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia.

In 2022, the mine was approved to recommission after closure. The Dartbook mine was mothballed in 2006, but in 2017, Australian Pacific Coal applied to recommence underground mine operations and began studies on the feasibility of open cut mining. With regards to the recommencing underground operations, the New South Wales Department of Planning & Environment issued a positive recommendation on the proposed modification in January 2019, and referred the proposal to the Independent Planning Commission.

The Dartbrook mine was authorized to re-open as an underground 'bord-and-pillar' mine in August 2019. However, Australian Pacific Coal had also applied for a five-year extension on the mine's life, so it could operate until 2027. This was denied by the Independent Planning Commission. Instead, the IPC's decision would allow the mine to continue operations until December 2022.

That same year, Australian Pacific Coal announced an update to the application to modify the development consent for the Dartbrook Coal mine (Modification 7). In March 2022, the Minister of Planning & Public Spaces approved the company's MOD7 appeal, allowing underground mining at Dartbrook through December 2027.

In January 2024, after 18 years of care and maintenance, the Dartbrook coal mine is poised for a restart.

• Operator: AQC Dartbrook Management Pty Limited
• Owner: Australian Pacific Coal (ACQ)
• Location: Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia
• GPS Coordinates: -32.1929124,150.894282 (exact)
• Status: Operating
• Production Capacity: 6 mtpa
• Total Resource: 2.5 billion tonnes (2022)
• Mineable Reserves: 370 million tonnes (2022)
• Coal Type: Thermal
• Mine Size:
• Mine Type: Underground
• Start Year: 1993; 2022 (restart)
• Source of Financing:

Expansion

Meanwhile, an open cut Pre-Feasibility Study for Dartbrook mine was completed in March 2018. Thus far, Australian Pacific Coal lodged a Gateway Application for the Project in May 2018. The company also planned to lodge a Request for Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) for the Project with DPE in May 2018. The proposed open cut mine would extract up to 10 Mtpa ROM coal for up to 24 years, following a two year construction period.

Opposition to the project includes the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association, who fear that the decision is a step towards open cut mining, and the Friend of the Upper Hunter, who are concerned about potential air quality impacts. In fact, after some multi-million-dollar horse studs had threatened to relocate from the Hunter region due to the risk of open-cut mining, the New South Wales government stepped in to ban open-cut mining at the Dartbrook site.

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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.