Pembroke Resources already has expansion in mind as infrastructure for the Olive Downs coal complex rapidly takes shape in the lead-up to a June start for mining.
While the Moranbah district operation will start out with a capacity of 6Mtpa, it has approvals for more and Pembroke chairman and chief executive officer Barry Tudor said it was designed for growth.
With confidence in a strong metallurgical coal market moving forward, Mr Tudor said he was already starting to look at ways to begin that expansion.
More than 500,000 hours of work has gone into construction at Olive Downs to date, with more than $500 million invested.
Related: Pembroke Resources General Manager Blair Richardson and ESG Manager Melanie Saul are presenting the business and the Olive Downs Complex at a Connecting Industry Luncheon (in-person and online) in Gladstone on May 17. For more information, connect here now.
Major construction projects underway include a 19km rail spur and loop being delivered by Golding Contractors and Aurizon to connect to the Norwich Park branch line.
The first power pole was recently erected for the 42km line from the Broadlea substation, and the CHPP is coming up out of the ground in work led by a Sedgman and CPB Contractors.
“I think 90, 95 per cent of parts are on site now for that (CHPP) construction. They are in laydown areas, and they are being put together at a rapid pace,” Mr Tudor said.
He estimated the workforce on site was 300-400 strong and said this would head towards 500 as work on the CHPP ramped up.
Equipment is arriving as mining contractor Thiess builds a fleet for the truck-and-shovel operation.
“The exciting thing about Olive Downs is these are the latest technology vehicles,” Mr Tudor said.
“There is a Liebherr 9800 800-tonne digger and we’ve got another one of those coming, a 9400 Liebherr, a 9150 Liebherr. We have 15 (Cat) 794 fully autonomous trucks and six (Cat) 793 fully autonomous trucks. And they’re all coming to site.
“They have been assembled in Mackay by Hastings Deering. The truck bodies and the trays come up separately and then they are put together on the pad.”
Mr Tudor said about 90 Queensland and Central Queensland businesses were involved in the development to date, including about 25 from the Moranbah area.
One of the first mines approved under Queensland’s Strong and Sustainable Resource Communities legislation, he said Olive Downs was focused on delivering local benefits throughout the development.
Mr Tudor said recruitment for operational roles was in full swing in conjunction with mining contractor Thiess.
“Again, Olive Downs is going to be a bit different. You might say, ‘oh, well, there’s no one driving the autonomous trucks’, but then not many mines have 15 or 20 spotter-catchers (to protect wildlife) on site every day doing a revolutionary clearing protocol like we do.
“So some jobs might be gone, but other jobs replace them. It’s just modern mining in my opinion.”
Hunger for high-quality steel-making coal
Mr Tudor is bullish on the outlook for metallurgical coal, with no substitute for good-quality coal in steel production on the near horizon.
Strong demand against a backdrop of depleting mine reserves and constraint in new supply should see a very strong market moving forward, he said.
“There’s extra (steel-making) capacity being brought on, particularly in markets like India right now. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Brand-new capacity in steel-making facilities that are blast furnaces.
“They’re getting more and more efficient as they go forward, which is very good as emissions are decreased.
“They need high-quality steel-making coal such as ours and what has happened is there are less and less new projects coming on board.
“And I doubt whether we’ll see another project like Olive Downs – a large-scale long-life open-cut mine. There are lots of hurdles.”
He said Olive Downs held environmental authority to produce up to 20Mtpa and the company had planned for expansion as part of its development.
“We’ve built the project with that in mind, it wasn’t a matter of if, it was when,” he said.
“We feel confident in the asset we have and we feel very confident in the demand for Australia’s high-quality steel-making coal.
“I mean, it’s something to be very proud of, in my opinion. It’s the engine room of the world.
“It’s steel, it’s getting people out of poverty. It’s hospital, schools, cars, bridges, and we are proud to be in the Bowen Basin and doing our part.”
This article first appeared in Industry Queensland.
