West Muswellbrook Coal Mine

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West Muswellbrook Coal Mine is a proposed coal mine in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
West Muswellbrook Coal Mine	Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia	-32.21311, 150.828124 (approximate)

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

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Proposed	Pre-Permit	New	–	–

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
7.2	–	–	Surface	Open Pit	81.0	60.0*	–

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
–	–	656.0	Hunter	Bituminous	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
New Hope West Muswellbrook Pty Ltd	New Hope West Muswellbrook Pty Ltd [100.0%]	Australia

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 Muswellbrook No. 2 coal mine was a surface coal mine near Muswellbrook, Central New South Wales, Australia, and operated by Muswellbrook Coal Company, a subsidiary of Idemitsu Australia Resources.

As of late 2022, the mine site is closed. According to its owner, Idemitsu, the former mine site will be utilized as a base for a variety of renewable energy sources. Underground coal mining commenced at Muswellbrook Coal Mine in 1907 and open-cut operations in 1944. Recent mining operations were focused on the No. 1 open-cut area, which began operation in 2005.

The mine was operated by Muswellbrook Coal Company, a subsidiary of Idemitsu Australia Resources.

Muswellbrook Mine had a production limit of 2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). It operated as a truck-and-shovel multi-seam coal mine. Coal was crushed, washed, and hauled to the Ravensworth Coal Terminal, where it was then transported by rail to the Port of Newcastle for export.

The mine previously had an expansion plan known as "West Muswellbrook," which would have increased its coal production rate to 15 million tonnes per annum, however, this project was shelved while in the pre-permit stage.

Closure

As reported in Idemitsu's 2022 annual report, the Muswellbrook Mine came to the end of its lifespan and closed in FY2022. The company states: "Regarding the Muswellbrook mine, we aim to gradually shift to new businesses such as renewable energy using the mine assets, including the commencement of commercialization feasability studies of pumped-storage hydroelectricity using the former mine 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.