Bengalla Coal Mine

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Bengalla Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Bengalla Coal Mine	Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia	-32.268076, 150.84 (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	–	1996	2039 (planned)

Table 3: Operation details

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	11.7	2022	Surface	Open Pit	12	270	420

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
166	2023	350	Hunter	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Bengalla Mining Company	New Hope Group [80.0%]; Taiwan Power Co [20.0%]	China

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	–	9	9	10	12	11	11

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

The Bengalla mine is an open cut coal mine located south-west of Muswellbrook, in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. Bengalla's history as a mining project dates back to 1990, when the NSW Government called for expressions of interest from mining companies to develop a coal resource. Bengalla received a 21-year development consent in 1996, and the site commenced production in 1999.

In its first decade of operating, the mine typically produced around 5 to 6 million tonnes of thermal coal per year. This number increased throughout the years, and in November 2010, Rio Tinto subsidiary Coal & Allied and its joint-venture partners, Wesfarmers, Mitsui and Taipower, approved a $141-million expansion to the mine, which would increase yearly production to 9.3-million tons, from 7.8-million tons. Wesfarmers MD Steward Butel said that a feasibility study for a second stage expansion to increase production to 10.7-million tons a year was also under way.

In March 2015, the development consent to mine in Bengalla was renewed, extending mining through 2039. The extraction limit approved from the mine is 15 million tonnes per annum of run of mine coal.

In early 2022, the Bengalla Joint Venture Participants approved the updated Life of Mine Plan (LOM) for Bengalla, which involves ramping up production from 12.5Mtpa to 13.4Mtpa ROM (currently approved to 15.0Mtpa).

Ownership

Coal & Allied acquired its interest in Bengalla in 2001. For some time, Coal & Allied was the manager of the site on behalf of the joint venture partners: CNA Bengalla Investments Pty Ltd (40 per cent), Wesfarmers Bengalla Limited (40 per cent), Taipower Bengalla Pty Ltd (10 per cent) and Mitsui Bengalla Investments Pty Ltd (10 per cent)."

In 2015, the ownership was re-structured, with New Hope Corporation Limited owning 40%, Wesfarmers Bengalla Limited owning 40%, Taipower Bengalla Pty Ltd owning 10% and Mitsui Bengalla Investments Pty Ltd owning 10%. In 2018, Wesfarmers sold their shares to New Hope Corporation, pushing New Hope’s shares to 80%. Currently, Bengalla Mining Company is a joint venture ownership with New Hope Group 80% and Taipower 20%.

Bengalla’s Relationship with the Community

According to their website, building an enduring and amiable relationship with the surrounding community of the Upper Hunter Valley is a priority for the Bengalla Mining Company. In October 2019, the Bengalla mine sponsored a “Community Open Day…(with) entertainment, a free barbeque, kids' activities from face painting to Wildlife Aid animals, along with numerous interactive displays to learn more about the mine's operation.”

• Sponsor:
• Parent Company: New Hope Group (80%) and Taipower (20%)
• Location: near Muswellbrook, Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia
• GPS Coordinates: -32.268076,150.841055
• Status: Operating
• Production: 11.7 mtpa (2022)
• Total Resource: 361 million tonnes (2022)
• Minable Reserves: 183 million tonnes (2022)
• Coal type: Subbituminous (Thermal)
• Mine Size:12 km2
• Mine Type: Surface, Open-cut, Strip mining
• Start Year: 1999
• Source of Financing:

Air Pollution

In December 2013, the Bengalla mine was fined for excessive dust emissions after warnings from the Planning Department. The Department said the mine had been issued a warning letter in August for a similar incident.

A similar incident occurred in December 2018, with Bengalla Mining Company fined $15,000 after it “allegedly did not have proper measures in place to reduce dust from its operations,” according to the NSW EPA.

At community meetings in Singleton and Muswellbrook in November 2019, citizens complained about and commented on the relationship between open cut coal mines and poor air quality in the Hunter Valley.

"Close to 90 per cent of our coarse particle pollution comes from open cut coal mines,” said Singleton GP Dr Bob Vickers, in an article by the Muswellbrook Chronicle. "We're not going to improve this situation unless, and until, the state government makes the mines act."

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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.