Millenium

The Millennium open cut coal mine in the Bowen Basin region of Queensland, 170 kilometres west of Mackay, began production in May 2006 using traditional truck and excavator methods of mining. It began by producing 1.4 million tonnes of low ash coking and mid volatile PCI (pulverised coal injection) coal a year. The coal mined at the Millennium Mine is exported to customers in China, India, Korea and Japan. The mine is owned by Peabody Energy Australia and had been operated by mining contracting company Downer EDI until 2013, when it became an owner operated
mine. In 2012 it was producing three million tonnes of coal annually.

Millennium Coal Processed at the Red Mountain CHPP
Coal mined at the Millennium Mine is transported by rail to the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal near Mackay for exporting to overseas customers, after it has been processed at the Red Mountain Joint Venture coal handling and processing plant (CHPP). The processing plant joint venture, that belongs to Peabody Energy and BHP Mitsui Coal, is capable of handling six million tonnes of coal a year. The Millennium coal mine is situated near the BHP Mitsui owned Poitrel coal mining operation 22 kilometres east of Moranbah and 16 kilometres south west of Coppabella.

Millennium Coal Mine is an Owner Operated Coal Mine
The Millennium coal mine that is now operated by Millennium Coal Pty Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Peabody Energy Australia Pty Ltd, employs approximately 400 personnel including contractors and in 2011 embarked on a substantial expansion project. The expansion project involved the increasing of hard coking coal production at the open cut mining operation from 1.9 million tonnes annually of run-of-mine (ROM) coal to 5.5 million tonnes a year. This increase is required to produce up to 3.6 million tonnes of product coal for the export market. It would also extend the life of mine by around 17 years.

Millennium Mine Expansion Project Increases Production
The Millennium Mine expansion project has continued with the open cut mining process of truck and excavator terrace mining methods, with thought being given to the use of electrically driven dragline and shovels being incorporated at a later date. This stage of upgrading will depend on the feasibility of increasing the current high voltage power supply to the mine site. The upgrading will incorporate the following:

- Process water being collected from the on site West Dam catchment as well as being sourced via the Burdekin Pipeline from the Burdekin Dam
- Coal washing, sizing and crushing continuing to occur at the Red Mountain Joint Venture off site facility
- The increasing of the size of the product and ROM coal stockpiles to meet the increase in production requirements
- Transporting of the product coal to the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal for exporting purposes

The Millennium coal mine expansion project involved the extending of the previous mining operation into two new leases.

There are Millennium mine staff members working specifically on rehabilitation and reclamation work at the mine site for the purposes of progressively rehabilitating the mined areas, so that it closely resembles surrounding landforms.
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