Key facts

Anglo American has extensive coal mining interests in Queensland and New South Wales.

We own the majority stake in and are the mine manager for the following operations:

Mine	Product	Mining method	Ownership
Callide mine	Low sulphur, sub-bituminous thermal coal primarily for Queensland’s domestic power generation	Open cut mining operation, comprising four pit areas	100%
Capcoal Surface and Underground Operations	Capcoal mines 11.8 Mt of coal annually to produce in excess of 8.5 Mt of prime quality hard coking coal and PCI coal	Capcoal comprises two underground mines, and two open cut mines	70%
Dawson mine	Dawson is currently producing in excess of 7 Mt annually of coking, soft coking and thermal coal	Dawson is an open cut operation, spanning almost 60 kilometres	51%
Drayton mine	Drayton currently produces around 5 Mt of thermal coal each year for export and domestic markets	Drayton is an open cut mine which commenced operation in 1983	88%
Foxleigh mine	Acquired by Anglo American in 2007, Foxleigh produces around 2.5 million tonnes per annum of pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal for the steelmaking industry. The mine’s production capacity is 3.3 million tonnes per annum of product coal	Foxleigh is an open cut operation adjoining ACA’s Capcoal Surface Operations	70%
Moranbah North mine	Coal is mined from the Goonyella Middle Seam, approximately 200 metres below the surface. The mine currently produces 4.5 Mt annually of high-quality, hard coking coal mainly for export to steel manufacturers in Japan, Korea and Taiwan	An underground longwall mining operation which began operating in 1998	88%

Our Dartbrook underground operation in the New South Wales Hunter Valley was placed under care and maintenance in December 2006. We own an 88% stake in Dartbrook, and are currently exploring opportunities to develop the lease area into a premium mining operation in the future. We also hold a third interest in Jellinbah Group, which amounts to a 23% in both Lake Vermont and Jellinbah mines.

Quick facts

• Six mines in Queensland and New South Wales
• Four Greenfield projects
• Approximately 3,500 permanent employees, and an additional 1,500 contractors
• Second largest exporter of metallurgical coal in Australia
• Access to Abbott Pt, Dalrymple Bay, Gladstone and Newcastle ports
• Products cover range from thermal to hard coking coal
• Approximately 32 Mtpa of saleable coal per year - 75% export

Completed projects

Dawson expansion project

In December 2004, we announced with Mitsui & Co. Ltd our joint intention to recapitalise our existing operations at Dawson and establish two additional mining operations at adjacent tenures to the existing mining operations. The expansion included the construction of a new coal preparation plant, additional mining equipment, a coal conveying system for transporting coal, rail load out facilities and administration buildings. The expansion was completed in late 2008.

Moranbah North mine longwall 101

In 2009, a new powered roof support project was commissioned at the Moranbah North mine, to improve the mine’s productivity at increasing depths. The project involved the installation of 148 roof supports underground, each with a 1750-tonne capacity.

Lake Lindsay

On 29 September 2009, Anglo American Chief Executive Cynthia Carroll officially opened the new module of the Coal Handing Processing Plant (CHPP) at our Capcoal operations in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. This event celebrated the completion of the under-budget $AU850 million Lake Lindsay growth project. Construction started on the Lake Lindsay growth project in 2006, with a scope of works including the CHPP and a new overland conveyor to accommodate a major expansion of open cut mining within our Capcoal complex. About 75 million tonnes of saleable reserves are contained within the Lake Lindsay mining area, and this addition will extend the mine’s life span by 20 years.

Greenhouse gas reduction initiatives

Two coal seam methane-fired power plants

We supply waste coal mine gas from our Moranbah North and Capcoal’s German Creek underground mines to power two power stations owned and operated by Energy Development Limited. The two power stations are supported by government greenhouse mitigation schemes, and the German Creek and Moranbah North power stations combined, reduce our emissions by approximately 2.5 million tonnes of CO₂ annually, equivalent to planting 3.6 million trees or taking 580,000 cars off the road.

Algae synthesisers

On 20 November 2009, we announced the acquisition of a stake of more than 20 per cent in Australian-based MBD Energy. MBD energy will soon commence trials of leading-edge carbon capture and conversion technology using algal synthesisers at three of Australia’s largest greenhouse gas emitting coal fired power plants. The new technology involves growing algae in bio-sequestration farms that feed off emissions from a neighbouring power station. These conditions enable the CO₂ to be consumed by the algae, which is then harvested to produce valuable by-products such as bio-diesel and animal feeds.

Safety initiatives

Ensuring employees and contractors remain safe at work is our number one priority, and we are committed to implementing the right safety systems and operating in a way that promotes safe behaviours, moving toward an overall objective of zero harm. An example of innovation in action is the introduction of the fatigue-monitoring Smart Cap being rolled out across sites in 2010 for all haul truck drivers. The cap monitors the operator’s brain waves and if symptoms of fatigue are identified, an alert is sent to the driver’s supervisor.

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