The Underground mine workings are located to the south of the New
England Highway. Access is from the northern side of the New England
Highway via portals in the southern highwall of the Arties Pit. The main
headings are generally aligned beneath and adjacent the New England
Highway corridor, thereby minimising the impact of subsidence whilst
maximising the recoverable area to the south. The underground mine is a
multiseam operation mining the Pikes Gully, Upper Liddell, Upper Lower
Liddell and the Lower Barrett seams of the Foybrook formation. Coal is
mined via longwall extraction methods. The underground operates 24 hours
per day, 7 days per week. The underground mine extracts approximately
3.2Mtpa of ROM coal.
Subsidence Management Plan (SMP) approval has been
received for Longwall Panels 1 to 4 in the Pikes Gully seam and first
workings approval has been received for Longwall Panels 5 to 9.
Extraction of the second seam, Upper Liddell is expected to commence in
2011.
