The Curragh Coal Mine is an open-cut,

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

mine located 30 km north of Blackwater in

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...

, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 88 million tonnes of

coking coal Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content. It is made by heating coal or petroleum in the absence of air. Coke is an important industrial product, used mainly in iron ore smelting, but also as a fuel in stoves ...

, one of the largest coal reserves in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and the world. The mine had an annual production capacity of 7 million tonnes of coal. The mine covers 12,600 ha of the Rangal Coal measures in the

Bowen Basin The Bowen Basin contains the largest coal reserves in Australia. This major coal-producing region contains one of the world's largest deposits of bituminous coal. The Basin contains much of the known Permian coal resources in Queensland includ ...

. In 2012, production at the mine was increased to 8.5 million tonnes a year. Later in the year operations changed from seven days per week to five. Curragh Coal Mine was previously owned by Wesfarmers Resources and has an expected mine life to 2025. Overburden is removed by Thiess. In 2017, Coronado Coal Group purchased Curragh Coal Mine from Wesfarmers Resources. Exports from the mine leave the country via the Blackwater railway system and the

Port of Gladstone The Port of Gladstone is Queensland's largest multi-commodity port and the fifth largest multi-commodity port in Australia. It is the world's fourth largest coal exporting terminal. It is within the locality of Callemondah in Gladstone in Ce ...

. Some of the coal is used to produce electricity at the Stanwell Power Station.

Incidents

In January 2020, a 33-year-old worker was killed after being trapped under heavy machinery at the mine. A number of charges relating to the incident were laid by the Office of the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor under the ''Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999''. Another worker was fatally injured at the mine in November 2021.

References

≈ {{DEFAULTSORT:Curragh Coal Mine Coal mines in Queensland Mines in Central Queensland Surface mines in Australia

Incidents

See also

References