Wilkie Creek mine

Wilkie Creek mine a project owned by Peabody Energy. The project is located 40 km west of Dalby in the Surat Basin of south-east Queensland.

Background
On its website Peabody states that "mining commenced in 1994, with Peabody acquiring the operation in 2005. Current production rate is 2.35 million tonnes of low sulphur, low nitrogen, environmentally superior thermal coal. The open-cut operation utilises excavators, loaders, dozers and trucks to mine the coal. Product coal is then railed 250 kilometres to the Port of Brisbane to be exported to Japan, Taiwan and Korea for use in the power generation industry."

Expansion plans
An Environmental Impact Statement is under way on the project, which has a notional commissioning date of 2013. The project is being developed on the basis that it will produce 7.7 million tonnes of thermal coal a year.

On its website, Peabody states "Wilkie Creek Expansion Project activities will commence late 2009 and seek to convert additional areas to active mining leases. An Environmental Impact Statement will be publically released during 2010 and serve as the initial phase of this expansion project. The final outcome of the EIS process will be the granting of an Environmental Authority, allowing operations to proceed into the new areas, increasing the life of the mine and adding further economic value and stability to the region. Exploration drilling in these expansion areas have revealed predictions of greater than 450 million tonnes of reserves."

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