Coal Handling and Processing

Coal is reduced in size through various handling systems to a nominal 50 millimetre top size before being fed to the plant.

A blended raw coal stockpile from a previously stacked combination of some or all of the three raw coals is also maintained and used as needed to optimise plant output at the required product quality. A consistent blend enables plant operating variables to be maximised and steady plant conditions to be maintained.

The four modules are each capable of treating 450 tonnes per hour, providing total capacity of 1800 tonnes per hour. Dewatering is by centrifuging and filtration. Flotation concentrate is transferred to drum filters and the dense medium cyclone, and spiral products go into centrifuges.

Clean, dewatered product is discharged onto the product conveyor, passing through an automatic sampler for analysis. Shift and daily samples are analysed by the on-site NATA-certified laboratory. Coarse rejects are stored in a 400 tonne rejects bin and transported by rear dump trucks for disposal in suitable worked-out opencut areas. Reject from the slimes circuit is thickened and pumped to an opencut void from where excess water is recovered and recycled through the plant.

The product coal is stacked on a 500,000 tonnes capacity product stockpile by a slewing high-speed belt "thrower-stacker". Dozers pushing into in-ground hoppers with vibrating feeders reclaim the coal. The system is designed for a loadout tunnel rate of 3000 tonnes per hour. Product coal is then railed 279 kilometres to the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal near Mackay for export.

Capcoal Coal Handling and Preparation

Essential to meeting customer requirements is an efficient Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP).

The German Creek Mine CHPP is designed to produce approximately 7 million tonnes per annum of coking coal and has an established reputation with international customers for the reliable supply of coal of consistently high quality. It incorporates a run-of-mine (ROM) coal crushing and blending system, four dense media cyclone circuits, spiral separators, a froth flotation plant and a product handling/rail loading system.

Raw coal from Southern Colliery is fed directly to the CHPP via an overland conveyor while coal from the Opencut and Central Colliery is hauled to the CHPP by truck.

The CHPP also toll-processes 2.5 million tonnes per annum of coal for the nearby Foxleigh Mine, which has an allocated product stockpile at the plant, and utilises Capcoal’s facilities for coal train loading.

Coal Quality

German Creek Mines exports 100% of its product coal, which is highly regarded for its coking characteristics and has an established position in the market for high quality, low/medium volatile hard coking coal. This, coupled with its high coke strength after reaction and low oven wall pressure, has resulted in high demand by major international steel producers.

Customer specifications are achieved through careful blending and stockpile management. Reliability of supply and delivery of a product of consistently high quality has cemented German Creek’s position with international customers.