Isaac River Coal Mine

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Isaac River 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 River Coal Mine	Moranbah, Queensland, Australia	-21.920288, 148.364672 (exact)

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

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Proposed	Permitted	New	–	–

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
0	–	–	Surface	Open Pit	14	100	*

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
–	–	8.7	Bowen	Bituminous	Thermal & Met	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Bowen Coking Coal Ltd	Bowen Coking Coal Ltd [100%]	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

Isaac River Coal Mine is a proposed mine in Queensland, Australia.

As of May 2023, the mine has been given provisional approval. The Isaac River mine is owned by Bowen Coking Coal. In March 2022, the project was granted a site-specific Environmental Authority (EA) from the Queensland Government.

According to Bowen's 2022 annual report, the mining lease application for Isaac River is "advancing in parallel with the Federal environmental approval under the EPBC Act and is now expected to be completed in the 2023 financial year."

As of May 2023, the mine has been given provisional approval. However, there are several conditions to be met before the mine can open, including minimizing the mine's impact on the native ornamental snake species, and the employment of a fauna spotter catcher. This approval comes as a surprise to environmentalists, as it is the first new coal mine approved by the Labor government elected in mid-2022.

• Operator: Bowen Coking Coal
• Owner: Bowen Coking Coal
• Location: The Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia
• GPS Coordinates:-21.920288, 148.364672 (Approximate)
• Mine Status: Proposed
• Production Capacity: Up to 0.6 Mtpa
• Start Year:
• Total Resource: 8.7 Mt
• Total Reserves:
• Coal Type: Bituminous (Metallurgical & PCI)
• Mine Size: 14 km2
• Mine Type: Surface

Environmental Controversy

In November 2022, Isaac River Mine gained publicity for being one of several projects located in Great Barrier Reef catchments and floodplains that was exempted from needing an environmental impact statement (EIS) by the Queensland government because it is proposed it would produce less than two million tonnes of coal a year. Without an EIS, the public could be excluded from providing comments on the project's terms of reference. This would instead leave the mining company to largely define what issues they address in their environmental assessments.

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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.