Tasmania and coal

Tasmania has a small coal mining industry which produces coal only for the local industrial market. There are no coal-fired power stations in Tasmania and no coal is exported.

The only operating coal company is Cornwall Coal, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cement Australia. The company states that the company "operates underground and open cut coal mines, and a coal washing and processing plant" and employs "over 70 people".

The estimates for coal production vary. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics estimated that in 2010 approximately 640,000 tonnes of black coal was mined, of which 620,000 tonnes was saleable coal. Cement Australia state on its website that it produce "in excess of 400,000 tonnes of washed coal each year." . Mineral Resources Tasmania, the government agency with respoonsibile for the mining and mineral processing industry, states on its website that "production of raw coal in 2008/2009 totalled 484,450 tonnes, with 384,155 tonnes of saleable coal being produced."

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