Peabody starts reventilating North Goonyella with aim of resuming production next year

24th May 2019 By: Creamer Media Reporter

Coal miner Peabody has taken the first step to resuming operations at the fire-hit North Goonyella mine in Queensland, Australia, with an announcement on Friday that it is proceeding with the ventilation of the first segment of the coal mine.

This forms part of a phased reventilation and re-entry plan, which aims to resume longwall production in 2020.

The US major last September evacuated personnel at the mine during a planned longwall move from the 9 North panel to the 10 North panel, owing to high gas levels. Despite weeks of work to take steps to treat the oxidation of coal from the surface, efforts were unsuccessful, resulting in a fire a few weeks later.