Australia's Dartbrook mine to restart in ‘coming weeks’

Australian mining firm Australian Pacific Coal (AQC) is planning to restart its Dartbrook thermal coal mine soon after multiple attempts to do so over the past five years.

The underground mine produced and transported coal to the surface on 4 September, the first time since it was placed into care and maintenance in 2006, AQC said on 5 September.

The Dartbrook mine is located in the Hunter valley coal mining region in New South Wales. It could potentially produce 5mn t/yr of thermal coal.

AQC had installed and tested a 4km conveyor system designed to transport coal produced from the Kayuga seam to the surface via the Hunter Tunnel. The coal will then be processed at a handling and preparation plant.

"Commissioning is under way and the team on the ground is working hard to bring the mine safely into commercial production in the coming weeks," said AQC managing director and chief executive Ayten Saridas.

Dartbrook will initially only produce unwashed thermal coal for sale to domestic or export customers when it resumes operations, the company said. Once the coal handling and preparation plant is refurbished early next year, the mine will produce washed and graded coal with high-calorific values (CV) for export. It may also produce semi-soft or pulverised coal injection coal.

Dartbrook was placed into care and maintenance by its previous owner, UK-South African mining firm Anglo American, in 2006 when high-CV NAR 6,000 kcal/kg coal was as low as $50/t fob Newcastle. AQC had hoped to restart the mine in 2019 but was delayed by opposition from local communities and a fraught approvals process. Australian high-CV coal prices have rallied recently on concerns regarding natural gas supplies arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Argus last assessed the price of NAR 6,000 kcal/kg coal at $143.92/t fob Newcastle on 30 August.

By Jinhe Tan