The Rotowaro coalfield and opencast mine is the second largest opencast coal mine in New Zealand.
The mine is located in the Rotowaro coal field, an area that has had a long history of both open cast and underground mining. It was first mined in 1915 after a branch railway and a bridge were established over the Waikato River. The current opencast mine opened in 1958.
The coal is low ash, low sulphur thermal coal. Both the lower seam and upper seam of the moderately complex Waikato coal measures are present.
The high-quality sub-bituminous coal is sought after in the following industries:
- steelmaking
- lime manufacturing
- meat works
- timber processing plants
- light industrial plants, and
- horticulture.
The mine has opportunities for extension. The Waipuna West extension project is at the feasibility stage, with final project approval conditional on achieving binding contracts with customers and granting of the variations of consents. The Rotowaro North project is located 4 kilometres north-west of the current mine site, and is in the conceptual phase where we have confirmed its resource tonnes.
Mine information
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- Ownership
- 65% BRL 35% Talleys Energy
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- Location
- 10 km west of Huntly
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- License/Permit
- CML 37155, ACML 37155-01, EP 56220, EP 60146
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- Coal types
- Sub-bituminous, domestic thermal coal
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- Life of mine
- 5+ years
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- Coal Reserves
- 1.0 Mt
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- Coal Resources
- 6.6 Mt
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- Last FY production
- 545 Kt