PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Global miner Anglo American has marked its first longwall shear at its Aquila mine, in Queensland, marking the final stages of construction and commissioning.

The $323-million Aquila mine extends the life of Anglo American’s existing Capcoal underground operations by seven years, after the company’s nearby Grasstree mine reached its end of life in recent weeks.

The mine will have a total average yearly saleable production of around five-million tonnes of premium quality hard coking coal and is a joint venture between Anglo American and Mitsui & Co.

Anglo American metallurgical coal CEO Tyler Mitchelson said the milestone had been achieved after a successful ramp-up to longwall operations by the project team.

“Safely starting up longwall mining at Aquila mine, on our original schedule and on budget, is an important milestone for our metallurgical coal business, and will support our ongoing contribution to both the Middlemount community, and Queensland’s economy.

“During Aquila’s construction phase, the project provided employment for around 1 200 people, and the majority of supply contracts were awarded to Queensland-based suppliers, including for longwall equipment, technology and civil works.

“The mine will use our existing infrastructure at our Capcoal complex and support around 600 ongoing operational roles for our Queensland-based workforce, including providing continuity of employment for our Grasstree workforce.”

Mitchelson pointed out that the Aquila mine had been developed as one Australia’s most technologically advanced underground mines, leveraging Anglo American’s advancements in underground automation technology, remote operations and data analytics.

The mine features two longwalls, allowing it to operate without the downtime that is usually required for longwall moves. Both longwalls are fully remote capable, and will be sequentially operated from Anglo's site-based remote operations centre on the surface of the mine.

“Remote operations present us with the single biggest opportunity to improve safety by removing people from harm’s way,” he said.

Grasstree produced 66-million tonnes of high-quality steelmaking metallurgical coal for export over the life of the mine, including setting the Australian underground coal production record by achieving 10-million tonnes of run-of-mine coal in 2015.