In December last year, the company lodged the application for its Abel underground project, near Maitland, NSW. The proposed mine will be accessed off the highwall of its current opencut operation.

Project manager Mark McPherson told International Longwall News the mine was expected to produce 4 million tonnes per annum over its 25-year life, with a reserve estimate of 100Mt.

McPherson said Donaldson had chosen bord and pillar in preference to longwall operations due to environmental factors.

“We opted for bord and pillar because it will give us more flexibility, particularly around creek and cliff lines,” he said.

In its project application the company said bord and pillar mining techniques would "allow the implementation of a mine plan that will control and limit subsidence".

"This and the use of existing areas of disturbance for surface infrastructure and the use of existing infrastructure for coal handling and rail loading ensures that potential impacts associated with the Abel Underground Mine can be minimised and appropriately managed," the company said.

The Abel application was lodged under the NSW Government’s new “state significant” laws, whereby a public advertisement is presented at the same time as a project application is submitted. Once project application has been approved, then an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is lodged.

Previously a company had to issue a public advertisement when it lodged its development application and EIS.

McPherson said Donaldson had spoken to every landowner around the proposed mine in a doorknock, introducing the company and the project and informing them further consultations would be held as the project unfolded.

While Abel is just getting underway, work at Donaldson’s Tasman project has moved into the development phase. Tasman, located 8km from the company’s current opencut, was originally approved in April 2004.

Civil contractors BMD have begun construction of the access intersection with an April completion anticipated.

Once again, Donaldson has opted for a bord and pillar operation over longwall because of the size of the deposit and environmental and structural factors.

“We opted for bord and pillar because the deposit is only about 12Mt and in a mountain, so we couldn’t do longwall because of cliffs and surface infrastructure, including major transmission towers,” McPherson said.

Donaldson will establish a portal at a surface crop and will use partial extraction on the thermal resource.

Donaldson currently produces 2.2Mt of saleable coal from its thermal opencut mine, which it rails to the Port of Newcastle.

Donaldson also forms part of the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG), together with BHP Billiton, Centennial Coal, Excel Coal, Felix Resources, AMCI and Whitehaven Coal. Last year the group was named by the NSW Government as the preferred developer and operator of a third coal loader for the Port of Newcastle.

The new loader will lift port export capability by at least 30Mtpa, allowing Donaldson and other group members to increase coal production over the next five to ten years.