Takitimu Coal Mine

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

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Takitimu Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Nightcaps, Southland, New Zealand.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Takitimu Coal Mine	Nightcaps, Southland, New Zealand	-45.962159, 168.03026 (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	–	–	2026

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
–	0.22	2023	Surface	Open Pit	–	50.0*	123.0*

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
0.0	2025	1.0	Ohai	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

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
Bathurst Coal	Bathurst Resources Ltd [100.0%]	New Zealand

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
–	0.25	0.18	0.11	0.16	0.21	0.22	–	–	–

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
0.302	25.066	2024	​	company report

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

Takitimu Mine (also referred to as Nightcaps), is an opencast sub-bituminous mine located near Nightcaps, Southland, New Zealand. The mine is owned and operated by Takitimu Coal Limited, a subsidiary of Bathurst Resources.

Location: Near Nightcaps, Southland, approx 60km northwest of Invercargill
Coordinates: -45.962159,168.03026
Coal field: Ohai
Current owner: Takitimu Coal Ltd, a subsidiary of Bathurst Resources
Status: Operating
Production capacity: 0.215 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa).
Estimated recoverable reserves: Expected that the resource will be depleting in the fourth quarter of 2012. Some of the overburden from Coaldale will be placed directly into the exhausted Takitimu pit to begin the rehabilitation there.
Mining technique: Opencast
Type of coal: Sub-bituminous thermal
Solid fuel calorific value (gross) 18.90 MJ/kg (Range for NZ coal 15.25–31.95 MJ/kg)
Market information: Coal from the mine is used for local dairy and food processing plants, schools and hospitals.

Background

The mines at Nightcaps were the main source of coal in Southland until mines at nearby Ohai opened in the 1920s. In 2011, Bathurst Resources acquired the Eastern Resources Group (a subsidiary of Australian-based Galilee Energy), which at that stage owned the Takitimu mine. In July 2012, Bathurst announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Takitimu Coal Limited, had completed the strategic acquisition of property adjoining its operations at a cost of NZ14 million. As the Takitimu mine becomes exhausted it is being extended into the nearby Coaldale block on the newly purchased land to the west. Bathurst expects that this acquisition will see the production of 2 million tones of sub-bituminous coal.

Potential Closure

In their 2025 Annual Report, Bathurst announced that the Takitimu mine was being prepared for closure with coal extraction expected to cease by mid to late 2026.

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.