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Oaky Creek is a joint venture between MIM (75%), Sumisho Coal Australia Pty Ltd (15%) and Itochu Coal Resources Australia Pty Ltd (10%). MIM manages the project through its wholly owned operating company, Oaky Creek Coal Pty Ltd. The Oaky Creek project is a modern large-scale mining operation producing at a rate of 10 million tonnes of coking coal a year, and is achieving record levels of productivity. The mine comprises three underground operations and two dragline open cut operations in Queensland's Bowen Basin, a coal province internationally renowned for its high quality coking coals. All mine planning and scheduling, from initial mine design to final loading of ships, is focussed on final product quality. The variety of raw coal supply sources allows substantial operating flexibility and ensures consistency of quality and supply. All raw coal is washed to further ensure consistency of product quality, and product coal is transported to loading facilities at Dalrymple Bay and Gladstone, via dedicated Queensland Government railway lines. Exploration at Oaky Creek began in 1977. MIM acquired its majority stake in the Oaky Creek project lease in 1981, becoming project manager, and the mine was officially opened in 1983. Initially an open cut dragline operation, underground mining was later introduced to increase coal production as the open cut mine became deeper and stripping ratios increased. Development of the Oaky No 1 underground mine commenced in June 1989 and operations utilising highly-efficient longwall technology began in November 1990. The Oaky North underground mine was developed from 1995. Oaky North Longwall underground mine was developed in 1998 at a cost of $213 million. A move to more economical coal recovery through the two underground operations saw the wind up and closure of the open cut operation during 1999. Changes in exchange rates and coal prices saw the open cut operation become economical again, reopening with two draglines in the high quality Aquila seam in July 2001. Apart from the mine, the original Oaky Creek development included the construction of a new railway and the acquisition of new locomotives and wagons; involvement in the building of the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal; construction of the town of Tieri; and the provision of power, water supplies and roads. These services, while provided at considerable cost to the company, are generally under the ownership and control of various State and local authorities. Coal produced at Oaky Creek is a medium volatile, high quality coking coal, with a range of required features vital to the production of good quality coke for modern blast furnaces. The coals contain moderately low ash, low sulphur and low alkalis and exert negligible pressure on coke oven walls. Oaky Creek coals exhibit excellent agglomerating (caking) properties such as high fluidity and high dilatation, which are exceptional for this rank of Australian coal. The coal produces an excellent coke if carbonised alone, or, as is most common, it can be blended to enhance coals of less than optimum coke-making quality. The Oaky Creek project supplies premium quality coking coals to major steel makers in Japan, Asia, Europe, United Kingdom, North Africa, South Africa and South America. These markets are predominantly serviced under term contract arrangements, reflecting a high level of commitment by Oaky Creek to its customers and the desire by customers to secure supply of the mine's products. The majority of Oaky Creek's coal is in two seams - German Creek and Aquila. The German Creek seam is up to 4.5 metres thick, averaging 2.6 metres. The Aquila seam is thinner, averaging 1.4 metres, but it is of complimentary quality to the German Creek seam. The German Creek seam is the production base for the underground mines with the Aquila being the target for the re-activated open cut operation. Underground mining was introduced at Oaky Creek to maintain and increase coal production as the open cut mining operations became deeper and stripping ratios increased. Large scale open cut mining operations at Oaky Creek ceased in September 1999 but a smaller open cut operation in the Aquila seam in July 2001, to provide production flexibility, was started. The highly efficient and productive longwall method of underground mining now supplies most of Oaky Creek's coal. This coal is from the high quality German Creek seam in the centre of the lease, and forms the base load of consistent feedstock for the preparation plant. The Oaky Creek mines have proved themselves to be reliable coal producers at the top end of Australian Longwall production. Oaky Creek No 1 underground mine was developed from the highwall of a worked out open cut pit close to the preparation plant. The longwall extracts coal from a series of pre-developed blocks, each of which contain up to 3 million tonnes of coal. Developed as a major longwall mine, Oaky North is generally a larger scale operation that the Oaky No 1 mine, with a greater seam thickness, wider longwall blocks and bigger more powerful mining equipment. In April 2000, Oaky North set an Australian monthly underground production record. In both mines, continuous miners develop the blocks for longwall extraction, maintaining minimum developed longwall inventories of at least two blocks at all times. The underground mines at Oaky Creek have optimum working conditions with a stable roof, floor and coalface and an above average seam thickness. Run-of-Mine coal is transported from the underground mines by high capacity belt systems to dedicated ROM stockpiles with combined capacity of over half a million tonnes. Run-of-Mine coal from the Open Cut operations is trucked to the ROM bin using a fleet of Cat777 rear dump haulers. The Run-of-Mine coal is conveyed as required to rotary beakers, where sizing and rock segregation take place. It is then conveyed to stackers which place the raw coal on a series of three stockpiles, one for each of the qualities being mined. Vibrating feeders reclaim coal from these stockpiles. It is then blended to ensure consistency of quality and fed to the preparation plant for washing. The Oaky Creek coal preparation plant consists of four parallel modules. Each module has a heavy medium system for treating coarse coal of 50 x 1mm, a primary spirals unit treating the 1.0 x 0.2 mm size fraction and froth flotation for processing fines of less than 0.2mm. A secondary spirals unit processes misplaced material from the primary spirals circuit. Recent upgrading of the treatment plant has increased its capacity to 1 800 tonnes per hour. The installation of horizontal belt filters to replace the original drum filters on the fines circuit has improved both the throughput capacity and the recovery of high quality fine coal. As it leaves the preparation plant, the product coal is sampled and analysed continuously to ensure that quality meets contract specifications. All operations of the preparation plant are governed from a central control room, and monitored by modern sensing and control equipment. Fine reject material from the preparation plant goes to a thickener for concentration and is later transferred to a tailings storage facility. Clarified water from the thickener and tailings storage facility is pumped back to the plant for re use in the washing process. A radial stacker places the washed product onto separate areas of the product stockpile depending on grade. From here a rotary plough feeder and series of gravity feed hoppers reclaim the product at 3,500 tonnes per hour for train loading. At 8.0 Million tonnes of clean coal production in 2000/01, the preparation plant exceeded its annual design capacity by more than a million tonnes. With the successful commissioning of the fourth module in June 2001, production will reach 10 million tonnes of clean coal per annum from 2001/02 onwards. Queensland has a world class electrified rail transport system committed to the efficient movement of coal. In 2000/01 a record 128 million tonnes of coking and steaming coal was transported over this network. Oaky Creek coal is transported to the ports of Dalrymple Bay and Gladstone in dedicated unit trains on rail lines devoted to the transport of coal. A coal train is about two kilometres long, with three lead locomotives and two support locomotives located mid-way through the train. Trains are loaded through a bin over the track, which incorporates the automatic weigh bridge. It takes about 1.5 minutes to fill each 85 tonne capacity rail wagon and about three hours to load a continuously moving 120 wagon coal train of about 10,000 tonnes. The large-scale, high volume coal ports in Queensland ensure fast and efficient loading turnaround for the state's export coal. The Oaky Creek project exports most of its product through the multi-user coal facility at Dalrymple Bay, 297 kilometres to the north at the Port of Hay Point near Mackay. This terminal includes a bottom dump rail unloading station and stockpile capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. This capacity is expected to increase significantly in later stages of development. Dalrymple Bay's annual capacity is 43 million tonnes. Bulk coal carriers of up to 200,000 deadweight tonnes are able to load at Dalrymple Bay. Ship loading is at a nominal rate of 80,000 tonnes per day for cape-sized vessels. Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal Pty Ltd, the port operator, is owned jointly by six coal producers including the MIM group. As well, Oaky Creek coal is shipped through Gladstone, 394 kilometres to the south of Oaky Creek. The R.G.Tanner terminal has the same vessel size and loading capabilities as Dalrymple Bay while Barney Point terminal is capable of loading vessels up to 70,000 tonnes deadweight at a rate of 2,000 tonnes per hour. Both are managed by the Gladstone Port Authority. The ability to ship through alternative ports gives Oaky Creek greater flexibility, enabling it to reduce waiting times. Customers of Oaky Creek Coal wanting to take combined cargoes can take advantage of the mine's ability to export through more than one port. SafetyOaky Creek Coal is committed to protecting the health and safety of people at our operations. At Oaky Creek we believe that all injuries are preventable. Our people are our most valuable asset and it is the right of each person to return home from work free of injury or work related illness. Our goal is to provide an injury free and healthy workplace. We strive to achieve this goal by:
MIM Holdings is committed to conducting business responsibly and in a manner designed to protect employees, the community's health and the environment. MIM Holdings developed an Environmental Policy and Standards in 1997 for all sites to follow to ensure minimal impact of our operations on the surrounding environment. The design, development and operation of our facilities is managed with a view to reducing the impact of our operations; ensuring efficient use of energy, water and other resources; minimising waste generation and disposal; and where waste must be disposed of, doing so responsibly. A high standard of environmental protection across all sites is maintained through site-specific Environmental Management Systems (EMS). A key requirement of the EMS is the ongoing development of comprehensive Compliance Registers for all sites, which is an internal audit of sites' compliance with our environmental commitments. The Oaky Creek Coal mining operation is located in the south-west of the Bowen Basin, 160 kilometres from the Queensland coast. By 2004 Oaky Creek will have recontoured all available spoil.
The Australian Minerals and Energy Environment Foundation awarded the 1999 Environmental Excellence Award for a Large Project to MIM Holdings for designing the IDR technique. The IDR technique was specifically devised to deal with the low, erratic rainfall and elevated salinity in the soil of Oaky Creek. The IDR technique captures water in a series of shallow, terraced ponds and drains internally, leaching out salt and improving soil quality. At the same time, erosion is minimised and run-off prevented. The IDR has a proven track record over the past 10 years in creating a native woodland that is stable and self-sustaining at both the Oaky Creek and Newlands mines. The rehabilitation technique of the IDR at Oaky Creek is the only method of final land form to receive government approval. The rehabilitation of all available land at Oaky Creek will be completed in 2005.
Oaky Creek has a workforce of around 450 and a further 225 operating contractors. They and their families live mainly in Tieri, a modern town constructed by the company in a picturesque setting, 14 kilometres west of the mine. Tieri is an open town within the local authority area of the Peak Downs Shire Council. With a population of about 2,000, Tieri offers contemporary housing and motel style single accommodation. Facilities include a pre-school and primary school, shopping centre, service station, swimming pool, squash, tennis and basketball courts, a youth centre with indoor stadium for activities such as cricket and roller skating, a gymnasium and organised youth activities, bowling green, golf, hotel-motel and sports fields. Electricity for the mine and Tieri is drawn from the State Grid. Water for the mine and the town is pumped to a storage dam from the Bedford Weir on the Mackenzie River, about 50 kilometres from Oaky Creek. All major regional roads are sealed. Oaky Creek and Tieri can also be accessed by helicopter and light aircraft. The Oaky Creek Project has contributed significantly to the region through the development of major infrastructure. In addition to ongoing investment in exploration, new mines and expenditure on existing operations, MIM contributes through the payment of royalties, rail freight, port and other charges and payroll tax to the Queensland government. Where possible Oaky Creek Project spending is directed to the Central Queensland region, contributing to the local economy. Annual spending in Central Queensland amounts to around $130 million. Oaky Creek also supports a wide range of community groups and contributes to improving local educational, sporting, cultural and medical services. This includes support for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Queensland Ambulance.
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