PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The construction of the Poplar Grove coal mine, in the Illinois basin, Kentucky, has been delayed by four weeks, owing to severe weather conditions.
Project developer Paringa Resources said on Thursday that unseasonably heavy rains had resulted in some of the worst flooding in 20 years in the area around the mine site, stopping construction activities for nearly two weeks.
While the levee systems surrounding the barge load facility and coal handling and processing plant were in operation and performed during the flooding event, the slope opencut and mine area were impacted by flood waters.
Regulatory inspections were undertaken at the mine site last week, which resulted in Paringa receiving approval to restart construction activities, which were now back to full capacity.
The company told shareholders that impacts to the site were carefully managed, and the resultant delays and costs to the construction schedule will be minimised through management’s counter measures.
The 2.8-million-tonne-a-year Poplar Grove thermal coal mine forms part of Paringa’s 40 000-acre Buck Creek complex, which also contains the 3.8-million-tonne-a-year Cypress mine, where construction is set to begin in 2019.