The Carmichael Mine in Central Queensland has reached a milestone, having extracted ten million tonnes of high-quality thermal coal.
Bravus Mining and Resources Chief Operating Officer, Mick Crowe, commended the company and its dedication to reach the milestone amount and said the railed thermal coal from the Carmichael mine project is ready for export.
“We couldn’t have achieved this milestone without the tens of thousands of people who had so passionately supported the business over the years of obtaining its comprehensive approvals and building the mine and railway.”
The mining project provided thousands of job opportunities, exceeding the project’s goal of delivering over 1,500 direct jobs.
“This is a terrific milestone for our team, our contracting partners, and supporters of our business.
“We said at the outset of the Carmichael mine and rail project that we’d deliver more than 1,500 direct jobs during the construction and testing and commissioning period,” Mr Crowe said.
“We well and truly exceeded that with more than 2,600 people employed at the peak of construction and more than AU$2 billion paid to regional Queensland contractors and businesses.
“That investment in jobs and contracts has flowed on in production and today we have more than 750 people working at Carmichael at any one time, with another third of that number on their operations swing.
“Importantly the bulk of these people live in a regional city or town named Townsville, or Rockhampton, or Clermont, or Charters Towers or Mackay, and that’s something we’re very proud of,” Mr Crowe said.
The thermal coal that was extracted was safely transported from the mine to the North Queensland Export Terminal by the Bowen Rail Company, which is part of Bravus Australia.
The business is expected to continue to focus on the growing global demand for thermal coal, particularly in India and Southeast Asia.
Data from the World Coal Association shows that 151GW of new coal-fired power is under construction in 16 countries, which is more than double all existing capacity in the Australian energy market and is expected to come online by 2026.
“Our advantage is we have all of our key federal and state approvals in place, and we have the low-cost, high-quality reserves to be mining profitably through the price cycles for decades to come.
“We are already meeting the rising demand for thermal coal in our region with a product that not only has a lower emissions profile than coal supplied by international competitors, but one that is mined responsibly in a highly regulated environment with the right checks and balances in place,” Mr Crowe said.
“That’s good news for those nations trying to lift their citizens out of energy poverty, and it’s good news for regional Queensland and the thousands of people who want a job in mining or to supply to our industry.”
