COMPANY ACTIVITY

Baralaba ramping up to 1Mtpa

COCKATOO Coal’s Baralaba mine in Queensland is on track to producing 1 million tonnes per annum of ultra-low volatile PCI coal after producing a total of 209,165t in the September quarter.

Lou Caruana

Production decreased at Baralaba Central, and after the end of the quarter all operations were transferred to the Baralaba North mine.

Final thermal coal sales totalling 36,779t were made during the quarter and all future coal sales are now expected to be ultra-low volatile PCI coal.

The high strip ratio at Baralaba North of 21.3 during the September quarter is due to initial pre-stripping of the Outrigger pit, the company said.

The inherent strip of the Outrigger pit is 8.79 and the forecast strip ratio for the next quarter is 14.74.

Cockatoo Coal managing director Andrew Lawson said the quarter was one of significant progress for the company.

“We have transitioned operations from Baralaba Central to Baralaba North throughout the period and I am confident that we will continue to maintain a production rate of close to 1 million tonnes per annum for the current financial year,” he said.

“I am also pleased that stage 1 of the expansion has been completed on time, and more importantly under budget.

“We continue to move swiftly through the approvals process to allow for the increase to 3.5 million tonnes per annum.

“Although we have suffered under the poor coal price environment that has existed this calendar year, and this has impacted our funding situation, we continue to progress the project while also judiciously managing our cashflow with the support of our major shareholders.”

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2023 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of current exploration rates, trending exploration technologies, a ranking of top drill intercepts and a catalogue of 2022 Initial Resource Estimates and recent discovery successes.