Huntly East mine
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The Huntly East mine was an underground coal mine located just north of Huntly township, approximately 100 kilometers south of Auckland, New Zealand.
The mine, which was owned and operated by Solid Energy, closed in 2017.[1]
Location
The satellite image below shows the exact location of the now-closed mine.
Background
The Huntly East mine, which was commissioned in 1978, produced sub-bituminous coal which Solid Energy describes as being low ash and low sulfur content.[2][3]
The mine’s entry and surface facilities were on the east side of the Waikato River, but all later mine development and mining were on the western side of the river. Access to the mine operations was via an underground road 150 meters beneath the Waikato River. Solid Energy stated in a 2012 brochure on the mine that approximately 7 million tonnes of recoverable coal were available for extraction in the licensed area and a further 12 million tonnes of coal was accessible in nearby areas.[3]
Solid Energy stated on its website that 95% of coal from the mine was sold and sent by rail to New Zealand Steel's nearby Glenbrook steel mill.[4] The remainder of the mine's production was used by lime manufacturers, meatworks, timber processing companies and other light industrial and horticultural suppliers throughout the North Island.[3]
In 2011, Solid Energy began the construction of a $30 million, 270 m deep ventilation shaft to allow the northern expansion of the mine to the west of the Waikato River. The company stated that with the existing infrastructure – including ventilation fans – on the eastern side of the river, it was necessary to install ventilation on the western side. The infrastructure upgrade, the company stated, would achieve productivity and efficiency increases needed to mine at increasing depth and would extend Huntly East Mine’s life by 15 years.[5]
The next year, however, there was a dramatic slump in Solid Energy’s fortunes, and in August 2012, Huntly East miners were told that there would be 63 redundancies at the mine and about 60 contractors at the mine would also lose work. The $30 million upgrade of the ventilation system would be suspended.[6] On 4 October 2012, mining was interrupted for 24 hours so that approximately 105 staff members could be informed in privacy whether or not they had been made redundant.[7]
Closure
In 2017, the Huntly East mine was closed. As Solid Energy states in their 2017 annual report, "increasing costs and capital requirements, combined with the unwillingness of customers to provide long-term coal price certainty at an economic level" led to the decision to close it.[8] It was among the last underground mines to close in New Zealand.
Mine Details
- Operator: Solid Energy
- Owner: Solid Energy
- Location: North of Huntly Township, approximately 100 km south of Auckland, New Zealand
- GPS Coordinates: -37.539167, 175.182016 (exact)[3]
- Status: Closed (2017)
- Production Capacity: 450,000 tonnes per annum[3]
- Total Resource: 7 million tonnes (2012)[3]
- Mineable Reserves:
- Coal Type: Sub-bituminous
- Mine Type: Underground, continuous miner
- Start Year: 1978[3]
- Number of Employees: 200[3]
- Main Markets: 95% is supplied to New Zealand Steel's nearby Glenbrook steel mill
- Source of Financing:
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ "Huntly East Mine", Solid Energy website, Accessed May 2023.
- ↑ Ministry of Economic Development, "Operating coal mines", Ministry of Economic Development website, accessed March 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Solid Energy, "Huntly East Mine", Solid Energy, Archived from the original on 9 June 2017, Accessed May 2023. (Pdf)
- ↑ Solid Energy, "Huntly East Underground mine", Solid Energy website, accessed from the original on 2 November 2012, Accessed May 2023.
- ↑ Solid Energy, "2011 Annual Report", Solid Energy, pages 24-25.
- ↑ The Press, "Solid Energy axes hundreds of jobs", accessed October 2012
- ↑ NZ Herald, "Anxious wait for 105 Solid Energy staff", accessed October 2012
- ↑ [1], Solid Energy, Archived from the original on 21 January 2018, Accessed May 2023.
