The mining process at Moorvale Mine is similar to the process at Coppabella Mine, however the Moorvale Mine coal seam comprises three plies with each ply mined separately.
Topsoil is removed and stockpiled for later use. Any surface water drainage is diverted as required. Overburden is drilled and blasted in order to facilitate its removal.
Overburden removal is undertaken using trucks and excavator.
The coal exposed by overburden removal is mined using excavators, loaded onto trucks and transported to the run of mine stockpile.
At the coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) the raw coal is crushed and washed to remove non-coal material.
• Three stage crushing system to minimise fine coal generation • 1,016 millimetre diameter dense medium cyclone to clean the coarse coal • 20 banks of triple start spirals to clean the fine coal • One Jameson flotation cell to recover ultra fine coal • The washing capacity of the CHPP is currently 450 tonnes per hour, giving the plant an annual throughput capacity in excess of 3.4 Mt of raw coal per annum.
A raw coal bypass system enables the plant to increase the throughput rate to in excess of 600 tonnes per hour while preparing thermal coal.
The product coal quality is monitored to ensure that contractual quality specifications are met consistently.
The processed coal is conveyed onto the product stockpile to await train loading and railing to Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT).
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