BHP Billiton recently approved investment
of $845 million to sustain operations at
Illawarra Coal, in southern New South
Wales, Australia, by establishing a replace-ment mining area at the Appin mine. The
replacement area will have a production
capacity of 3.5 million metric tons per year
(mt/y) of metallurgical coal and will sus-tain Illawarra Coal’s production capacity at
9 million mt/y. Appin Area 9 will be opera-tional in 2016 and will replace production
at the West Cliff mine. The project
includes roadway development, new venti-lation infrastructure, new and reconfigured
conveyors and other mine services.
“This is good news for local jobs and
the economy in the region,” said Hubie
van Dalsen, president, metallurgical coal,
BHP Billiton. “The investment sustains
Illawarra Coal’s production rates and rec-ognizes the value of its high quality met-allurgical coal resources.” The develop-ment has received all necessary regulato-ry approvals.
As featured in Womp 2012 Vol 07 - www.womp-int.com