Huntly East mine

The Huntly East mine is an underground coal mine located near is just north of Huntly township, approximately 100 km south of Auckland. The mine is owned and operated by Solid Energy.

Background
The mine, first commissioned in 1978, produces sub-bituminous coal which Solid Energy describes as being low ash and low sulfur content. The mine’s entry and surface facilities are on the east side of the Waikato River but all current mine development and mining is on the western side of the river. Access to the mine operations is via an underground road 150 m beneath the Waikato River. Solid Energy stated in a 2008 brochure on the mine that approximately 1 million tonnes of recoverable coal were available for extraction in the licensed area and that there were a further 7 million tonnes of accessible coal in nearby areas.

Solid Energy states on its website that 95% of coal from the mine is sold and sent by rail to New Zealand Steel's nearby Glenbrook steel mill. The remainder of the mine's production is used by lime manufacturers, meatworks, timber processing companies and other light industrial and horticultural suppliers throughout the North Island.

In 2011 Solid Energy began the construction of a $30 million, 270 m deep ventilation shaft to allow the northern expansion of the mine to the west of the Waikato River. The company stated that with the existing infrastructure – including ventilation fans – on the eastern side of the river, it was necessary to install ventilation on the western side. The infrastructure upgrade, the company stated, would achieve productivity and efficiency increases needed to mine at increasing depth and would extend Huntly East Mine’s life by 15 years.

The next year, however, there was a dramatic slump in Solid Energy’s fortunes, and in August 2012 Huntly East Miners were told that there would be 63 redundancies at the mine and about 60 contractors at the mine would also lose work. The $30 million upgrade of the ventilation system would be suspended. On 4 October mining was interrupted for 24 hours so that approximately 105 staff members could be informed in privacy whether or not they had been made redundant.

Project Details
Owner:  Solid Energy Location: slightly east of the township of Huntly Coordinates: -37.539167,175.182016 Status: Operating Production capacity: 400,000 tonnes per annum Type of coal: sub-bituminous Employees:  150 staff Main markets: 95% is supplied to New Zealand Steel's nearby Glenbrook steel mill.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * New Zealand and coal
 * New Zealand Mining Industry Association
 * Solid Energy