PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Anglo American will invest more than A$240-million at its Aquila metallurgical coal project, in Queensland, to extend the mine life of the existing Capcoal underground operations by six years.
The company has awarded nearly A200-million to six longwall equipment suppliers to deliver a walk-on, walk-off system using two complete longwalls, a A$20-million overland conveyor system and more than A$20-million in civil works.
The project includes a A$5-million reverse osmosis water treatment system to increase the use of recycled water and reduce the reliance on fresh water at the mine.
Anglo American’s metallurgical coal business CEO Tyler Mitchelson said the project was on track for first longwall production of premium quality hard coking coal in early 2022.
“Our Aquila project is progressing well, with support from its Queensland-based workforce and contracting partners. More than 90% of our Aquila contracts have been awarded to Queensland-based suppliers, and we currently have around 500 people working on the project in engineering, surface construction and underground development.
“Aquila will be a breakthrough project, designed to set a new standard of safety and performance by leveraging technology and focusing on operational improvements.
“The mine will showcase our innovation-led approach to sustainable mining, with a remote operating centre on the surface of the mine, proximity detection systems underground to alert machine operators to pedestrians and the continued digitisation of our operations, using new technologies such as our Australian-first intrinsically safe underground electronic tablets.”