The Ashton Coal Project is located approximately 14 km north-west of Singleton in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. The Ashton Coal Project is adjacent to the Open-Cut mines of Glendell (Xstrata), Camberwell (Vale), Lemington (Rio Tinto), Ravensworth (Xstrata), and Narama (Xstrata). Adjacent Underground mines include Glennies Creek (Vale) and Newpac (Xstrata).
Planning approval from the Minister for Planning was recieved on 11 October 2002, it was assessed as an integrated, State Significant Development pursuant to the provisions of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
The project includes an open cut coal mine, an underground coal mine, a Coal Handling and Preparation Plant and a rail siding. The Ashton Open-Cut and Underground Coal Mines have a current production capacity of approximately 3.9mtpa of high quality Semi-Soft Coking Coal. This coal is predominantly exported to Asian steelmakers.
Ashton currently produces and exports approximately 3.0 million tonnes per annum of predominantly Semi-Soft Coking Coal; with some thermal coal capacity. This is done through the Port of Newcastle, New South Wales.
The Ashton Coal operation is an unincorporated Joint-Venture between Yancoal Australia Ltd (90%) and Itochu Corporation of Japan (10%). Yancoal Australia Ltd acquired the interest in the Ashton Open-Cut and Underground Coal Mines effective from December 2009 through its purchase of Felix Resources Pty Ltd. Yancoal Australia Ltd is the operator of these mines and manages the Joint-Venture.
