PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Anglo American has safely restarted its Grosvenor coal mine, in Queensland, following a gas incident in May 2020.
The company on Monday told shareholders that it had received confirmation from the regulator, Resources Safety and Health Queensland, on February 16, that longwall mining operations could now recommence following the incident.
“We have been working towards a safe restart at Grosvenor for several months and today we are up and running having received our regulator's approval last week,” Anglo American metallurgical coal CEO Tyler Mitchelson said.
“Over the past 18 months, we have worked with leading industry experts and invested significantly in automation technology, remote operations, gas management and data analytics, introducing a number of advancements in the way underground coal mines can operate.
“Nothing comes before safety and I thank our workforce, our local stakeholders and our customers for their patience and support as we bring Grosvenor back into production."
Following confirmation of the restart at Grosvenor, while export metallurgical coal production guidance for 2022 is unchanged at between 20-million and 22-million tonnes, due to the impact of Covid-19 in early 2022 and a later-than-expected restart of operations at Grosvenor, production is expected to be towards the lower end of the guidance range.
As a result, unit cost guidance for 2022 is revised to $85/t, up from the previous estimate of $80/t and compared to 2021 unit costs of $105/t.