Awaroa Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Awaroa Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Rotowaro, Waikato, New Zealand.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Awaroa Coal Mine	Rotowaro, Waikato, New Zealand	-37.594308, 175.074334 (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	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1915	–

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
–	0.407	2022	Surface	Open Pit	–	50*	167

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
0.9	2023	6.1	Rotowaro	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
BT Mining	Bathurst Resources [65.00%]; Talleys Energy [35.00%]	New Zealand

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

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	0.66	0.8	0.65	0.5	0.46	0.41	–

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September and December supplements.

Background

Rotowaro Opencast Mine (also known as Awaroa) is an opencast sub-bituminous coal mine located approximately 10 km west of the township of Huntly, New Zealand. It is considered to be New Zealand's second-largest opencast mine.

The mine is owned and operated by BT Mining—a joint venture between Bathurst Resources Ltd and Talley's Energy.

Mining began around 1915 and the Rotowaro township was built especially for miners’ houses, but was entirely removed in the 1980s to make way for a large opencast mine. “Rotowaro Opencast Mine” refers to three pits which have or are being mined - the Awaroa mine, the Waipuna mine, and the Township mine. Currently, active mining occurs in what is referred to as Awaroa 4 pit.

The Rotowaro mine is primarily operated under a coal mining licence (CML) granted for a 40 year period on 1 April 1987, which is held by BT. The primary consumers of coal from Rotowaro include Huntly Power Station, the largest thermal power station in New Zealand, Glenbrook Steel Mill, and Open Country Dairy and Fonterra (Waikato dairy factories).

Extensions

In FY2024, BT Mining was granted approval to mine 1.3 million tonnes of coal from the Waipuna West extension pit at Rotowaro. At current production levels, this extension will prolong the life of mine by three years. It will also allow the country to replace imported Indonesian coal used for New Zealand steelmaking. As of Fall 2024, overburden stripping operations were underway at the site, and the pit was nearing full production.

BT Mining Limited has also proposed the Rotowaro Mine Continuation Project, which includes an extension of the mine's Rotowaro North pit area. Located 4 km northwest of the current mine site, the project seeks to extend mining operations into surrounding areas enabling the extraction of an additional 6.64 million tonnes of coal over a period of 19 years. It is currently in the prefeasibility stage.

In October 2024, the Rotowaro Mine Continuation Project was accepted as one of dozens of mining projects under New Zealand's Fast-track Approvals Bill. According to New Zealand's Ministry for the Environment, the purpose of the Fast-track Approval Act is to "facilitate the delivery of infrastructure and development projects with significant regional and national benefits." Under this fast-track pathway, the Escarpment mine's recommencement and extension will be processed more speedily since this legislation only requires a single application package be submitted to the Environmental Protection Authority to award approvals. This Fast-Track Approvals Act became law in December 2024. (This differs from current processes, which require separate applications for different types of approvals.)

Environmental Issues

Solid Energy states that the main environmental effects of the mining relate to the temporary disturbance of the land. The company states that dust and water quality are carefully managed and monitored, and that rehabilitation is undertaken progressively. Ponds, wetlands and a large lake will remain following the completion of mining and rehabilitation.

Articles and Resources

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.