Wambo Coal AEMR 2010-2011 - Peabody Energy

2010-2011 AEMRthe excavators and rear dump haul trucks touncover the coal.The exposed coal is mined using excavators andloaded into haul trucks. The intervening clay bands,when thick enough, are excavated and loaded outseparately for disposal in pit to avoid complicationsin the coal washing process. The coal is minedwithout blasting. The majority of ROM coal isdelivered directly from the Open Cut to the ROMdump hopper using haul trucks, with the balancetemporarily stockpiled on the ROM coal stockpilepad. Mining is based on a shift roster of two 12.5hour shifts per day. Table 2.2 shows annual ROMproduction levels from Open Cut mining at WCPLfor the past 14 years.Table 2.2 – Annual Open Cut ROM Production LevelsYearCoal(ROMtonnes)Overburden(Bank CubicMetres)Ratio1997-1998 1,232,658 7,322,227 6.2:11998-1999 482,002 1,684,484 3.5:11999-2000 13,700 41,800 3.0:12000-2001 0 0 -2001-2002 922,613 8,025,081 8.7:1*2002-2003 3,671,000 22,550,000 6.1:12003-2004 4,220,000 23,530,000 5.6:12004-2005 4,186,000 23,240,000 5.6:12005-2006 5,424,000 30,620,000 5.6:12006-2007 5,790,000 35,150,783 6.1:12007-2008 4,245,395 27,854,967 6.6:12008-2009 3,386,614 23,886,024 7.1:12009-2010 2,751,000 19,866,651 7.2:12010-2011 4,015,000 27,583,359 6.9:1* Anomalously high ratio due to reopening and expansion.During the reporting period, Open Cut coal wasprimarily mined from the Whybrow, Redbank Creek,Wambo and Whynot seams. Backfilling of theWombat Pit continued, reducing the need for out ofpit dump space. At the end of the reporting periodthe following equipment was utilised to undertakeOpen Cut mining activities:2 x Cat 16H Grader1 x Cat 24H Grader2 x Cat 773 Service Truck1 x Cat 773D Water Cart2 x Cat 773C Water Cart7 x Cat 785B Dump Truck9 x Cat 785C Dump Truck6 x Cat 789C Dump Truck2 x Komatsu 830E Dump Truck10 x Komatsu 930E Dump Truck6 x Komatsu HD785 Dump Truck1 x Cat 972H Loader1 x Cat 992D Loader1 x Cat 992G Wheel Loader1 x Cat 994 Wheel Loader1 x Cat D10R Dozer3 x Cat D10T Dozer1 x Cat D11N Dozer7 x Cat D11R Dozer1 x Hitachi EX2500 Excavator1 x Hitachi EX3600 Excavator3 x Komatsu PC5500 Excavator1 x Komatsu PC250-6 Excavator1 x Liebherr R994B Excavator2.5 Coal Handling andPreparationThe coal handling process is illustrated in Figure2.3. Coal from the Open Cut and Undergroundoperations is transferred to the CHPP via haultrucks on internal haul roads. Coal is tipped directlyinto the 400 tonne ROM bin or stockpiled adjacentto the ROM bin and subsequently loaded into theROM crusher using a front-end loader, as required.Three stages are used to crush the ROM coal. Thecrushed coal passes into the CHPP, then into twoseparate Modules which contain dense mediumcyclone coarse coal circuits. These operate inparallel with a teetered bed separator for thebeneficiation of fine material in Module 2, andspirals in Module 1.All clean coal is conveyed to the clean coalstockpile. Four underground reclaim points feedcoal from the clean coal stockpile onto the reclaimconveyor (The fourth reclaim point was previouslyused to feed the clean coal from United.) Thereclaim conveyor transfers coal onto the load-outconveyor, which conveys to the train load-out bin.The WCPL train loading system is designed to loadtrains at a rate of 4,500 tonnes per hour (tph).Details of the amount of coal transported by railfrom the rail load facility are presented in Appendix1. All coal produced by WCPL was transported byrail during the reporting period. During the reportingperiod the CHPP processed a total of 8.730 MtROM coal. The average coal recovery was 65%.Page 23