Capcoal Mining Lease

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• Southern• Central • Grasstree• Open Cut• Underground

Opencut

Opencut mining at German Creek commenced late 1981 with operations shifting to the adjoining Oak Park lease in 2004. The Middlemount seam currently mined is approximately 5 metres thick. The Oak Park Opencut mines up to 2 million ROM tonnes per annum.

Mining begins with removal of vegetation and stockpiling of topsoil for future use in rehabilitating mined areas.

Overburden above the coal seam excavated by a Marion 8050 electric walking dragline with a 46 m3 bucket capable of moving over 95 tonnes at each pass. If the depth to the coal seam exceeds the dig depth capability of the dragline, prestripping is carried out using a truck and shovel operation to remove the excess overburden.

The dragline excavates strips of up to 50 metres deep and between 50 metres and 80 metres wide placing the spoil in the void of the previously mined area.

In areas where two seams are being mined, parting material is excavated, to expose the lower seam after the top seam has been removed.

Uncovered coal is loosened by ripping or blasting before being loaded into 160 tonne belly dump trucks for hauling to the run-of-mine (ROM) hopper at the Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP).

In addition to the fleet of six belly dump coal haulers and three front-end loaders, the opencut operates a large fleet of support equipment. This includes a rear dump truck used for hauling rejects (waste rock) from the CHPP and hauling spoil; two water trucks for roadway and dust suppression; a fleet of six large dozers for parting removal, pit preparation and stockpile work; graders, service trucks, cranes, pumps, lighting rigs, tyre handlers and other specialist support plant essential for the day-to-day operation of the mine.

In 2002, Anglo Coal Australia purchased the Lake Lindsay deposit. This resource has a total of 76 million tonnes of coal and a potential mine life in excess of twenty years. Project studies are currently underway with open cut mining forecasted for 2006.