PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Difficult operating and financial conditions have forced coal miner Wollongong Coal to suspend mining operations at its Russell Vale colliery, in New South Wales, and to place the operation on care and maintenance.
CEO Milind Oza on Tuesday said the company had been facing a tough operating environment for some time, which included delays in the approval of its underground expansion project and significant financial losses.
“This decision is not taken lightly and we have continually attempted to avoid this unfortunate situation by undertaking a series of workforce restructurings.
“With the partial extraction of longwall 6 at the Russell Vale colliery completed and the company experiencing significant losses, ongoing operations at the colliery are simply not sustainable at this point in time,” Oza said.
He added that while the company was saddened to place the Russell Vale colliery on care and maintenance, it was also committed to doing everything in its power to ensure it’s A$400-million investment in the operation would not be lost.
“Wollongong Coal will continue to seek approval for the underground expansion project at the Russell Vale colliery, which will allow us to recommence extraction of high-quality coking coal, which is in high demand by the global steel market,” Oza said.
The underground expansion plan was aimed at increasing production at the mine from one-million tonnes a year to about three-million tonnes a year of run-of-mine coal and would include an upgrade to surface infrastructure and coal extraction from eight longwalls in the Russell Vale east area.
The New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) held public hearings for the project in February but, in April, determined that more information on the project would be required.
Wollongong expected the expansion project to be referred back to the PAC for determination later this year.
“This approval will pave the way to the beginning of a continued long-term future in the region and we will continue to work closely with the New South Wales government to ensure this can happen,” Oza said.