Burkes Creek mine

This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

This article is part of a collection on coal projects in New Zealand developed with Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA). You can follow CANA on Twitter and Facebook. For information on how to get involved in adding material to Global Energy Monitor Wiki see here.

This article is part of the Global Energy Monitor coverage of New Zealand and coal.

Sub-articles:

Proposed coal mines Existing coal mines Coal export terminals Existing coal fired power stations Coal companies and agencies Solid Energy Solid Energy coal mines Solid Energy coal processing plants Potential Solid Energy coal projects Bathurst Resources Bathurst Resources coal projects L&M Group L&M coal exploration projects L&M Energy Mokau South Resources Mokau South Resources coal exploration projects Directors of New Zealand coal companies Power companies and agencies Coal Activist Videos: New Zealand Coal transport accidents in New Zealand

Related articles:

Global use and production of coal International Information on Coal

The Burkes Creek mining operation includes both a small opencast mine and an underground mine producing sub-bituminous coal mine near Reefton on the West Coast of the South Island. The underground mine is owned and operated by RJ Banks and the Burkes Creek Coal Party.

Loading map...

{"type":"SATELLITE","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"400px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":14,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":-42.098254,"lon":171.890795,"icon":""}]}

Project Details

Location: Near Reefton, West Coast of the South Island

Coordinates: -42.098254,171.890795

Coalfield: Reefton
Background: The Reefton Coal Company was set up in 1919 to develop the original Burkes Creek mine and the area has been worked by numerous underground operations in the same and other seams. According to an Enzed transport article, Solid Energy acquired the opencast operation in 2004.
In its 2012 Annual Report Solid Energy stated that it would be continuing feasibility assessment for Burkes Creek Opencast.
Current owner: RJ Banks and the Burkes Creek Coal Party operate the mine as a small family concern.
Status: Operating
Production capacity: 5000 tonnes/year
Estimated recoverable reserves: Solid Energy confirmed an estimated inferred resource of 18Mt.
Mining technique: The underground mining is based around shotfiring operations to fragment the coal and then hydraulic operations to convey the coal from the mine.
Type of coal: Sub-bituminous
Solid fuel calorific value (gross) 25.00 MJ/kg (Range for NZ coal 15.25–31.95 MJ/kg)
Market information: Domestic
Environmental and/or health & safety issues: In the aftermath of the Pike River disaster, the New Zealand Cabinet required that safety audits of all coal mines be carried out. This identified areas for improvement that would need to be addressed by the Burkes Creek mine operator before underground mining resumed.

Articles and Resources

Related GEM.wiki Resources

• New Zealand and coal
• New Zealand Mining Industry Association
• Solid Energy