Coal mining in Australia

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Coal is mined in every state of Australia. It is used to generate electricity and is exported. 75% of the coal mined in Australia is exported, mostly to eastern Asia. In 2000/01, 258.5 million tonnes of coal was mined, and 193.6 million tonnes exported. Coal also provides about 85% of Australia's electricity production.^[1]

Coal mining in Australia has become more controversial because of the strong link between burning coal, including exported coal, and climate change, global warming and sea level rise. Coal mining in Australia will as a result have direct impacts on Australian agriculture, health and the natural environment including the Great Barrier Reef.^{[citation needed]}

1 Fast facts
2 Coal mining and climate change
3 Major mines
4 Proposed mines
5 Major export markets for Australian coal
6 Major overseas end users of Australian coal
7 Major coal export ports
8 Major coal mining companies
9 References
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] Fast facts

Australia is the world's largest exporter of black coal, a position it has held since 1984
Australia has more than 42 billion tonnes of economically recoverable reserves of black coal throughout Australia. The production for export markets is currently based on deposits in Queensland and New South Wales.

Australia is the fourth largest coal producer in the world
Australia produced 258.5 million tonnes of coal in 2000/01, of which nearly 230 million tonnes was saleable coal
Coal is Australia's largest export commodity
Australia exports 75% of its coal production, making the country the largest coal exporter in the world - a position Australia has held since 1986
Exports of 193.6 million tonnes in 2000/01 were worth $10.8 billion or 10% of Australia's merchandise trade
Coal provides about 85% of Australia's electricity generation requirements
The coal industry employs 18,840 workers directly and many more indirectly
Productivity has increased by 15% annually since 1996/97
Many Australian coals have environmental benefits such as high energy content, low levels of sulphur, nitrogen and ash
Australia has about 77 billion tonnes of coal resources
The Asian market accounts for 80% of Australian coal exports with the top three markets being Japan (47%), Korea (12%) and Taiwan (9%)
In the metallurgical coal market, Australia is competitive in exporting coal to the Asian region and Europe.
In the thermal coal market, Australia is competitive in exporting coal to the Asian region, with its main competitors being China and Indonesia. Australia is less competitive in exporting coal to the European market due to shipping distances, and as such the main competition is from South Africa, Colombia, USA, and the Russian Federation.

^[1]

[edit] Coal mining and climate change

Tim Flannery, 2007 Australian of the Year, asserts in his book on climate change, The Weather Makers, that the level of greenhouse gas emissions is best reduced by first concentrating on the emissions from stationery generation sources feeding the electricity grid. Coal is the principle fossil fuel used in power generation not only in Australia but in many other countries. In order to reduce potential environmental damage many nations are looking at producing low carbon energy. These may include nuclear, hydro-electic, geothermal, wind and solar. Carbon capture technology, which would allow for the carbon emissions to be stored underground is a possible way in environmental damage may be reduced in the future, although this technology has yet to be proven comercially.

[edit] Major mines

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Major Australian Coal Mines)[1][2]
Mine	State	Location	Ultimate Owner	Lat & Long	Type of Coal	Tons Mined PA	Tons Exported PA	Major Buyers	Major Method
Ulan	NSW	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Open Cut
Leigh Creek	SA	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	Open Cut

[edit] Proposed mines

Major Australian Coal Mines[3]
Mine	State	Location	Ultimate Owner	Lat & Long	Type of Coal	Est Tons Mined PA	Est Tons Exported PA	Expected Major Buyers
Anvil Hill	NSW	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Mudgee	NSW	?	?	?	?	?	?	?

[edit] Major export markets for Australian coal

**Major Export Markets For Australian Coal**[4]
Country	Tons Coking	Tons Steaming	Tons Total	Rank	% of exports
Japan	?	?	?	1	47
Korea	?	?	?	2	12
Taiwan	?	?	?	3	9
China	?	?	?	?

[edit] Major overseas end users of Australian coal

**Major End Users of Australian Coal**[5]
Purchaser	Country	Tons	Type of Coal	Purpose
China	?	?	?	?
Japan	?	?	?	?

[edit] Major coal export ports

**Major Australian Coal Export Ports**[6]
Port	State	Mill Tons 2000/1	Mill Tons 2001/2	Australian # 2002	World # 2002
Hay Point	QLD	69.283	70,753	1	1
Newcastle	NSW	67.283	69.299	2	?
Gladstone	QLD	35.436	37.502?	?	?
Abbot Point	?	10.562	11,878	?	?
Port Kembla	NSW	8.573	8.206	?	?
Brisbane	QLD	2.319	2.889	?	?
Total	na	193.456	200.527	na	?

[edit] Major coal mining companies

**Major Australian Coal Mining Companies)**[7]
Company	Main Mines	Tot Coal Mined
AMCI Holdings Australia Pty Ltd	?	?
Anglo Coal Australia Ltd	?	?
Bloomfield Collieries Pty Ltd	?	?
BM Alliance Coal Operations Pty Ltd	?	?
Centennial Coal Company Ltd	?	?
Coalpac Pty Ltd	?	?
Cornwall Coal Company	?	?
Donaldson Coal Pty Ltd	?	?
Enhance Place Pty Ltd	?	?
Ensham Resources Pty Ltd	?	?
Felix Resources Limited	?	?
Foxleigh Joint Venture	?	?
Gloucester Coal Ltd	?	?
Hunter Valley Energy Coal	?	?
Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty Ltd	?	?
Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd	?	?
Jellinbah Resources Pty Ltd	?	?
Lithgow Coal Company Pty Ltd	?	?
Macarthur Coal Limited	?	?
New Hope Corporation Ltd	?	?
Peabody Pacific Pty Ltd	?	?
Rio Tinto Coal Australia Pty Ltd	?	?
Wesfarmers Coal Ltd	?	?
Whitehaven Coal Mining Pty Ltd	?	?
Xstrata Coal Pty Ltd	?	?