Isaac Plains Underground Coal Mine

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Isaac Plains Underground Coal Mine is a proposed coal mine in Moranbah, Queensland, Australia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Isaac Plains Underground Coal Mine	Moranbah, Queensland, Australia	-21.949387, 148.144479 (approximate)

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

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Proposed	Permitted	New	2029 (planned)	–

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	–	–	Underground	–	–	500*	*

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
19.5	–	–	Bowen	Bituminous	Thermal & Met	Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Stanmore IP Coal Pty Ltd	Stanmore Resources Ltd [100.0%]	Australia

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 Integrated Isaac Plains Project (also known as the Isaac Plains Complex) is a group of adjoining mines owned and operated by Stanmore Resources in Queensland, Australia. The complex includes the following mine sites: Isaac Downs, Isaac Plains, Isaac Plains East, Isaac Plains South, and Isaac Plains Underground. Mining operations were initially commenced at the now-depleted Isaac Plains North deposit in late 2006.

As of 2023, The Isaac Plains Complex is comprised of the Isaac Plains mine, which ceased operation in 2018; Isaac Plains East; Isaac Plains South; Isaac Downs coal mine, and the Isaac Plains underground mine site. The mines are located approximately 7 kilometers south-east of the town of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin region of central Queensland. They are all owned by Stanmore Coal.

Over the years, several of these mines have served as the core mining operation site for the complex, including the Isaac Plains site, followed by Isaac Plains East and (currently) Isaac Downs.

Stanmore reports that in financial year 2021, it invested $1.65 million in the rehabilitation of the Isaac Plains Complex; 56 hectares of land was recontoured, and 44 hectares was seeded for re-vegetation. To date, 39% of all disturbed land at Isaac Plains is already under rehabilitation. Stanmore integrates this core activity with operations to ensure timely and efficient close out of rehabilitation.

As for upcoming projects, Stanmore reports that there exists an opportunity to develop the Isaac Plains Pit 5 North resource, which contains approximately 1.4Mt of ROM coal.

Isaac Plains

Stanmore Resources acquired the Isaac Plains mine site in November 2015, after the operation was placed in care and maintenance in late 2014 by the previous owners. Its mining operations recommenced in January 2016, then transitioned to the operations at Isaac Plains East from July 2018 through to January 2019. According to Stanmore, mining at this main site will cease in the first quarter of 2022.

Isaac Plains East

During the late 2010s, most mining operations transitioned from the Isaac Plains mine site to Isaac Plains East. However, as of financial year 2022, the Isaac Plains Complex's core mining operations have transitioned from Isaac Plains East to Isaac Downs. During financial year 2022, 212 hectares of land at Isaac Plains East underwent rehabilitation.

Isaac Plains South

Isaac South is a proposed open-cut coal mine which sits immediately south of the Isaac Downs mine, on the southern side of the Isaac River. The most recent resource estimate for Isaac South was completed in June 2018 and includes a total coal resource of 52 million tonnes.

Isaac Downs

The Isaac Downs coal mine is located 10 kilometers south of the existing Isaac Plains operations. It operates as an open-cut mining operation utilizing the existing Isaac Plains infrastructure Stanmore also owns the mine to the south of Isaac Plains and Isaac Plains East. In April 2022, EPSA Pacific took over as Isaac Downs' new mining operator. Early during the financial year 2022 period, the dragline commenced operations at Isaac Downs at which point full scale production commenced. Most mining operations now occur at Isaac Downs.

Isaac Plains Underground

Isaac Plains Underground is a fully approved underground mine project, with approval granted in March 2019 by the Queensland Government. The status of the underground development as of June 2020 was this: "The Bankable Feasibility Study completed in FY19 confirmed the financial viability of the Underground project with potential production of on average 1.2Mt saleable per annum from year 2 of the production plan.

• Operator: Stanmore Resources Limited
• Owner: Stanmore Resources Limited
• Location: 7 kilometers east of Moranbah, Queensland, Australia
• GPS Coordinates: -21.9718375, 148.1132931 (exact for Isaac Plains mine)
• Status: Isaac Downs, operating; Isaac Plains on care and maintenance; Isaac Plains East, operating; Isaac Plains South, proposed; and Isaac Plains Underground proposed;
• Coal Production: 3.9 million tonnes per annum (FY2022)
• Total Resource: 160 million tonnes
• Mineable Reserves: 39 million tonnes (2022)
• Coal Type: Coking coal (Metallurgical & Thermal)
• Mine Size:
• Mine Type: Open-cut and underground
• Start Year: 2006
• Source of Financing:

Contact details

Website: http://www.aquilaresources.com.au/go/projects/coal/isaac-plains-coal-mine

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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.