Narrabri Coal Mine

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Narrabri Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Baan Baa, New South Wales, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Narrabri Coal Mine	Baan Baa, New South Wales, Australia	-30.51820371, 149.89767941 (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	Project Phase	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1	2012	–

Table 3: Operation details

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
11	4.795	2022	Underground	Longwall	10	200	500

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
158	2023	575	Sydney-Gunnedah	Bituminous	Thermal	Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Narrabri Coal Joint Venture	Whitehaven [77.5%]; J Power [7.5%]; Upper Horn Investments [7.5%]; Posco International Narrabri Investment [5%]; Kores Narrabri Pty Limited [2.5%]	Australia, Japan

Expansion/Extension

Table 6: 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	Permitted	Extension	3	–	2026 (planned)

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

Background

The Narrabri coal mine is an underground coal mine near Narrabri in New South Wales, Australia. It is operated by Narrabri Coal Operations Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of Whitehaven Coal) and owned by the Narrabri Mine Joint Venture, of which Whitehaven is the majority shareholder. 

As of 2022, the mine's "Stage 3" expansion to increase production to 11 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) has been approved. The project was commissioned in 2010, initially producing 1.5 million tonnes of thermal coal in 2012; it cost $227 million to construct.

In August 2020, Whitehaven Coal was charged by the New South Wales Resources Regulator with 16 breaches of the state's mining laws at the Narrabri mine and the company faces up to US$17 million in fines as a result. The charges relate to an exploration licence which was suspended in August 2019 as well as alleged breaches including the construction of unauthorised tracks, drilling of bores in contravention of approval conditions and the failure to rehabilitate drill sites. The charges will be brought to the Land and Environment Court on September 18. The Australian Financial Review reported that Whitehaven's share price dropped by three percent to $1.36, its lowest point since 2016, on the day of the announced charges.

In 2021, the company encountered difficult geological conditions at the mine and was forced to reduce the size of its reserves.

• Operator: Narrabri Coal Operations Pty Ltd (NCOPL)
• Owners: Whitehaven Coal (77.5%), J-Power Australia Pty Limited (7.5%), Upper Horn Investments (Australia) Pty Ltd (7.5%), Posco International Narrabri Investment Pty Ltd (5%), and Kores Narrabri Pty Limited (2.5%)
• Location: 25 km south-east of Narrabri and 60 km north-west of Gunnedah, in Baan Baa, New South Wales, Australia
• GPS Coordinates: -30.51820371, 149.89767941 (exact)
• Status: Operating
• Production: 3.98 mtpa
• Total Resource:
• Mineable Reserves: 102 million tonnes
• Coal Type: Thermal
• Mine Type: Underground
• Mining Method: Longwall
• Mine Depth: 200 m
• Workforce Size: 500
• Start Year: 2012
• Source of Financing:

Expansions

In 2010, "stage 2" of the Narrabri Mine was approved which allowed the mine to convert to a longwall mining operation. (As of this date, Narrabri's underground mining area consists of 20 longwall panels.)

In 2022, the mine received its environmental permit for "stage 3" operations. This approval allows the mine to extract up to 11 Mtpa of ROM coal until July 2031.

Opposition

Australian environmental groups, including Lock the Gate, have claimed the Narrabri coal mine expansion would be the dirtiest coal mine in Australia because of it's CO2e emissions.

Project Expansion Details

• Status: Approved
• Capacity: 5.3 mtpa
• Mineable Reserves: 82 million tonnes
• Start Year: TBD
• Source of Financing:

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.