Foxleigh Coal Mine

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

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Foxleigh Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Middlemount, Queensland, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Foxleigh Coal Mine	Middlemount, Queensland, Australia	-22.997778, 148.803889 (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	–	1999	–

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
–	3.376	2024	Surface	Open Pit	–	60.0*	585*

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
223.0	2020	335.0	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
Middlemount South Limited [100%]	QMetco Ltd [100.0%]	Canada, South Korea, Japan

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	3.99	3.74	4.39	3.38	3.04	3.42	3.47

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

Foxleigh coal mine is operated by Middlemount South Pty Ltd and owned by QMetco, Posco Australia, Nippon Steel Australia, located in Middlemount, Queensland, Australia. The mine is operated by Middlemount South Pty Ltd and owned by Hallador Energy Company.

• Operator: Middlemount South Pty Ltd
• Parent company: QMetco (70%), Posco Australia (20%), Nippon Steel Australia (10%)
• Location: Middlemount, Queensland, Australia
• GPS coordinates: -22.983463, 148.779234 (exact)
• Mine status: Operating
• Start year:
• Mineable reserves: 350 million tonnes (Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resource)
• Mineable reserves: 69.6 (Proven and Probable Reserve)
• Coal type: Bituminous (Thermal)
• Mine size:
• Mine type: Surface, Opencast
• Production: 4.08 million tonnes (ROM)
• Number of employees:

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
M0040.B1	mine boundary	surface	Foxleigh coal mine total boundary	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M0040.B2	mine boundary	surface	Foxleigh mining lease: ML 70171	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M0040.B3	mine boundary	surface	Foxleigh mining lease: ML 70309	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M0040.B4	mine boundary	surface	Foxleigh mining lease: ML 70429	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M0040.B5	mine boundary	surface	Foxleigh mining lease: ML 70430	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M0040.B6	mine boundary	surface	Foxleigh mining lease: ML 70431	extracted	15 Dec 2024 (from QSpatial mining leases page)
M0040.P1	other	preparation plant	Coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP)	extracted	2023-12-03 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 17, 2025

ID	Notes
M0040.B1	This total mine boundary is composed of the five mining lease boundaries of the Foxleigh coal mine. The individual lease boundaries were downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue, https://web.archive.org/web/20250604135056/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page. The relevant mining lease IDs were confirmed in the Queensland government's project summary of the Foxleigh plains mining expansion. https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/management/environmental/eis-process/projects/completed/foxleigh-plains-project. The approximate area of the boundary polygon is 90 sq km.
M0040.B2	The boundary is for mining lease ML 70171 and is one of five mining leases that compile the Foxleigh coal mine and Foxleigh Plains project (expansion of the Foxleigh coal mine). The mining lease boundaries were downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue, https://web.archive.org/web/20250604135056/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page .
M0040.B3	The boundary is for mining lease ML 70309 and is one of five mining leases that compile the Foxleigh coal mine and Foxleigh Plains project (expansion of the Foxleigh coal mine). The mining lease boundaries were downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue, https://web.archive.org/web/20250604135056/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page .
M0040.B4	The boundary is for mining lease ML 70429 and is one of five mining leases that compile the Foxleigh coal mine and Foxleigh Plains project (expansion of the Foxleigh coal mine). The mining lease boundaries were downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue, https://web.archive.org/web/20250604135056/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page .
M0040.B5	The boundary is for mining lease ML 70430 and is one of five mining leases that compile the Foxleigh coal mine and Foxleigh Plains project (expansion of the Foxleigh coal mine). The mining lease boundaries were downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue, https://web.archive.org/web/20250604135056/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page .
M0040.B6	The boundary is for mining lease ML 70431 and is one of five mining leases that compile the Foxleigh coal mine and Foxleigh Plains project (expansion of the Foxleigh coal mine). The mining lease boundaries were downloaded from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue, https://web.archive.org/web/20250604135056/https://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/index.page .
M0040.P1	The presence of the coal handling and preparation plant at Foxleigh coal mine within ML 70171 was confirmed in page 3 of the Environment Impact Statement: https://web.archive.org/web/20241203031259/https://www.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/108358/foxleigh-plains-project-eis-report.pdf . It's location was manually extracted via visual analysis of Google Pro 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.