Whitehaven Coal Limited · ASX:WHC
Whitehaven Coal — Technical Presentation (December 2003)
39 slides from Whitehaven Coal's technical presentation, December 2003
Slide 1: Werris Creek Proposal: Develop an Open Cut Coal Mine within E.L. 5993
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL Develop an Open Cut Coal Mine within E.L. 5993
Slide 2: Location
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Location • Four klms South of Werris Creek on the Quirindi road.
Slide 3: Tenement
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Tenement • Exploration Lease 5993 currently held by Creek Resources Pty Ltd, covers an area of over 531 hectares. • Exploration to date has identified an isolated outlier of coal-bearing strata preserved within a syncline about 2.5 km by 1 km wide. • North end of syncline pre
Slide 4: Ownership
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Ownership • Joint Venture between Creek Resources and an entity associated with AMCI.
Slide 5: Resource
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Resource • Open cut coal reserves in nine separate seams; Black, A, B, C, D, E, F, F(r) & G • 9.8 million tonnes (Identified) • 6.5 million tonnes of indicated reserves. • 3.3 million tonnes of inferred reserves. • Independent from previously mined U/G area.
Slide 6: Coal Reserves (Seam & Interburden Thickness)
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL Coal Reserves (Seam & Interburden Thickness) Black Seam 3.66 m (only one intersection) Interburden 45.00 m ‘A’ Seam 1.40 m 1.45 m Interburden 37.45 m 41.00 m ‘B’ Seam 0.60 m 1.70 m Interburden 0.78 m 17.00 m ‘C’ Seam 2.95 m 4.68 m Interburden 4.95 m 20.70 m
Slide 7: Coal Reserves (Seam & Interburden Thickness)
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL Coal Reserves (Seam & Interburden Thickness) ‘D’ Seam 0.40 m 1.92 m Interburden 0.0 m 5.80 m ‘E’ Seam 2.65 m 4.65 m Interburden 6.45 m 10.15 m ‘F’ Seam 3.15 m 4.25 m Interburden 31.00 m 39.40 m ‘G’ Seam 5.90 m 8.00 m
Slide 8: Coal Quality
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Coal Quality • The Coal Resource consists of six major seams. • The Coal is Low Ash, Low Sulphur, Bituminous Thermal Coal. • Suitable to be mined as a Raw Coal for the export market.
Slide 9: Coal Quality
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL Coal Quality Seam Ash VM Sulphur Energy ‘A’ N/A N/A N/A N/A ‘B’ 12-15% 28-29% 0.25% 6,500 ‘C’ 8-10% 30% 0.30% 6,900 ‘D’ 13-18% 22% 0.25% 6,000 ‘E’ 4-8% 30% 0.30% 7,100 ‘F’ 8-10% 28% 0.30% 6,800 ‘G’ 5-8% 31% 0.30% 7,050
Slide 10: Land Ownership
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Land Ownership • Mine operations will be contained on the “Narrawolga” property which is being purchased by the JV. • Processed coal will be transported across and stockpiled on an adjacent property owned by Tony Windsor – Federal MP. He is aware of the logistics of the proje
Slide 11: Mining Method
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Mining Method • Mining will be by Truck and Excavator. • Current Indicated and Inferred Reserves are contained within an area 800m by 700m and are up to 150 metres deep.
Slide 12: Coal Preparation
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Coal Preparation • Coal will be Crushed and Screened on site to produce Raw Coal products. • No washplant is proposed.
Slide 13: Capacity
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Capacity • Projected Output Level will be 1.5 Mtpa. • Approval sought for 2.0 Mtpa to provide operating margin.
Slide 14: Transportation
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Transportation • Product Coal will be transported by road truck to a rail siding on the Windsor property. • Pacific National and Rail Access Corporation have confirmed suitability of the existing rail siding. • Private road transport will be confined to the Narrawolga and Win
Slide 15: Flora
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Flora • Geoff Cunningham Natural Resource Consultants Pty Ltd (GCNRC) has investigated and classified the vegetation in the project area. • The following three principal vegetation communities were identified.
Slide 16: Flora
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Flora • Community (A) - White Box, Yellow Box, Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland. • This community, listed as Endangered under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, is also identified as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodivers
Slide 17: Flora (con't)
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Flora (con’t) • Community (A) - White Box, Yellow Box, Blakely’s Red Gum Woodland. • An estimated 15 ha of this community lies within the mine footprint. • This community is not confined to the “Narrawolga” property, with more extensive occurrences in the distri
Slide 18: Flora
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Flora • Community (B) - White Box / Rough-Barked Apple Community. • This community is Not Threatened.
Slide 19: Flora
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Flora • Community (C) - Grassland / Cultivated Land Community. • This community is highly modified and invaded or planted with introduced species and is Not Threatened. • No listed Threatened Species were identified in the survey.
Slide 20: Flora
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Flora • In recognition of the potential impact on Community (A), the JV and GCNRC have identified a number of potential environmental offsets for the area as follows: • Establishment of an on-site nursery to cultivate seedlings using local seed stock and soil. •
Slide 21: Flora (con't)
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Flora (con’t) • In recognition of the potential impact on Community A, the JV and GCNRC have identified a number of potential environmental offset for the area as follows: • Establishment of corridors to link community remnants. • Exclusion of grazing to assist
Slide 22: Fauna
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Fauna • A preliminary fauna survey of the areas within and surrounding the project area was undertaken over three days in October 2003 by Countrywide Ecological Services • No Threatened Species have been identified.
Slide 23: Cultural Heritage
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Cultural Heritage • A survey of the project area was undertaken by Archaeological Services and Reports Pty Ltd in the company of representatives of the Nungaroo Local Aboriginal Land Council. • Two features identified as possible grinding grooves were located ad
Slide 24: Residential Proximity and Noise
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Residential Proximity and Noise • In addition to “Narrawolga”, the following six residences are located in the vicinity of proposed open cut operations: • “Eurunderee” - 1.3 km south-west; • “Railway View” – 1.5 km north-east; • “Hillview” – 2.0 km north-north-e
Slide 25: Residential Proximity and Noise
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Residential Proximity and Noise • There are no other residences within 2 km of the proposed train loader or access road between the mine and the train loader. • “Narrawolga”, a project-related residence, lies within the limit of the proposed open cut.
Slide 26: Blasting
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Blasting • Blasting, which will be required from the commencement of mining operations due to the competent nature of the majority of the overburden. • All blasts will be designed to satisfy ANZECC structural damage and human comfort criteria and an assessment o
Slide 27: Blasting
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Blasting • Blasting will be undertaken to within approximately 350m of the Werris Creek to Quirindi Road, and Main Northern Railway Line. • Blast scheduling will be programmed to avoid interference to rail traffic. • Some short term interruptions to road traffic
Slide 28: Air Quality
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Air Quality • The proposed development lies within an agricultural area with local air quality principally determined by seasonal conditions, and the nature of agricultural activities. • Other local influences on air quality include the Quirindi and Parry Shire
Slide 29: Air Quality
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Air Quality • In order to quantify likely emissions and design appropriate safeguards and ensure compliance with current EPA air quality goals, computer predictions will be undertaken to provide an assessment of air quality impacts and to ensure residential amen
Slide 30: Ground Water Resources
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Ground Water Resources • A review of the former DLWC’s Groundwater Database and other sources has identified three groundwater bores adjacent to the project. • One registered bore at the Old Colliery residence accesses the coal bearing strata at a depth of appro
Slide 31: Ground Water Resources
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Ground Water Resources • The next nearest non-project-related bore lies at a distance of approx 2.4 km to the north-west of the project, accessing water in fractured basalt at a depth of about 19 m. • Analyses from borehole samples has shown the groundwater to b
Slide 32: Surface Water and Drainage
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Surface Water and Drainage • The proposed open cut lies on the southern end of a north-west / south-east oriented ridgeline, with the mine area lying immediately to the south of a catchment divide which directs surface flows to the north to Werris Creek and to t
Slide 33: Soils and Land Capability
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Soils and Land Capability • Preliminary observations suggest that the land capability within the proposed areas of disturbance comprises a mixture of Class IV to V with the open cut area graduating to Class II and III lands on the lower gradient peripheral areas
Slide 34: Visibility
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Visibility • As the proposed mine development would commence at the southern end of a ridgeline, the proximity of the mine to both the Werris Creek town, Quirindi Road and Main Northern Railway Line and the proximity and elevation of the “Railway View” and “Hill
Slide 35: Geochemistry
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Environment - Geochemistry • Based on the geological investigations undertaken to date and the knowledge from other operating or proposed mine developments within the Gunnedah Basin, it is considered unlikely that the overburden and/or interburden materials will exhibit a net
Slide 36: Community Support
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Community Support • The JV has established strong support from Quirindi Council. • Community consultation with Tony Windsor, local land-owners and local community leaders has demonstrated strong project support from the Werris Creek area.
Slide 37: Timetable
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • TIMETABLE • Development Application and Mining Lease Application by June 04. • Mining to commence prior to December 04.
Slide 38: Employment
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL • Employment • Mine development is expected to generate direct employment of around 50 jobs. • Plus additional jobs within the local community from the usual add on effects.
Slide 39: The End
WERRIS CREEK PROPOSAL THE END
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