Airly Coal Mine

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Airly Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Capertee, New South Wales, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Airly Coal Mine	Capertee, New South Wales, Australia	-33.1130709, 150.0149367 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	2009	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
1	1.17	2022	Underground	–	40	500*	155

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
31.78	–	84.57	Western	Bituminous	Thermal	Mount Piper power station

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Centennial Coal Company Pty Ltd	Banpu PCL [100.0%]	Australia, Thailand

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	–	0	1	1	1	1	0

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

Airly Coal Mine is an underground coal mine located within the Sydney Basin, approximately 4 kilometers northeast of Capertee in New South Wales, Australia. Airly Mine was initially owned by Novacoal from 1993 to 1997, when it was sold to Centennial Coal. Centennial Coal began construction in March 1998 and mined until the mine moved to a care and maintenance phase in January 2013. The first expiration date of the mining lease was set for October 2014.

The mine re-opened in February 2014, and coal production recommenced in March 2014. The mine has been designed for a life of 25 years from 2009 at 1.8 Mt/year. However, at a 2019 Community Consultative Committee meeting for the Airly mine, mine officials announced their goal of increasing yearly production to 3 Mt/year.

In August 2015, the lease was modified to extend until April 2016. The company then requested an extension to the mine for 20 years of additional mining followed by 5 years of decommissioning and rehabilitation. This was approved in December 2016.

The Airly mine operation uses a continuous miner system to extract coal from underground. On-site facilities include a coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), as well as a rail loop and loading facility for rail transport to Port Kembla.

In 2020, Centennial constructed a 2-megawatt solar farm at the Airly mine site.

Failed Expansion

In November 2019, Airly Mine submitted a modification application to increase its coal production from 1.8 million tonnes per year to 3 million tonnes per year. Following subsidence performance criteria exceedances, Airly Mine voluntarily withdrew the application in December 2020.

• Operator: Centennial Airly Pty Ltd
• Owner: Centennial Coal
• Location: In the Western Coalfields, within the Sydney Basin, approximately 171 kilometers north of Sydney, 40 kilometers north-northwest of Lithgow, and 4km northeast of Capertee, New South Wales, Australia
• GPS Coordinates: -33.1130709, 150.0149367 (Exact)
• Status: Operating
• Capacity: 1.8 mtpa
• Production: 1.17 mtpa (2022)
• Total Resource: 84.57 Mt
• Mineable Reserves: 31.78 Mt (Proven and Probable)
• Coal Type: Thermal coal
• Mine Size: 4,003 hectares
• Mine Type: Underground
• Start Year: 1998
• Workforce Size: 155
• Source of Financing:

Community Opposition

Environmental groups protested an extension of the Airly Mine’s permit by 20 years, a move that was approved in 2016 by the Planning Assessment Commission. The PAC allowed the public to submit comments of opposition or support of the mining extension; they gathered 412 objections and 97 submissions in support.

Environmental groups argue that continuing mining would destabilize pagodas and cliffs that form part of Capertee Valley, which is Australia's largest canyon.

"I'm calling on the PAC to apply the precautionary principle to make sure that the tip of Genowlan Point … doesn't fall into the Capertee Valley and go extinct, and also at the same time damage the ecotourism industry," said Haydn Washington, a visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales' Institute of Environmental Studies, at a public PAC meeting in 2016.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.