Abandoned coal mine leaves Queensland government with rehabilitation bill

A central Queensland coal mine has been abandoned, leaving the state government to manage its rehabilitation. The Bluff coal mine, located 20 kilometres east of Blackwater and 174km west of Rockhampton, was owned by Bowen Coking Coal (BCC), which went into voluntary administration in July last year.

The Department of Natural Resources and Mines confirmed that the liquidators had "disclaimed" the mining lease, associated environmental authority, and exploration permits for the mine. "This means the mining lease has ceased, the site is now an abandoned mine and will be managed by the Queensland government," a department spokesperson said.

The department has secured the site and is working with relevant agencies to ensure risks to public safety and the environment are managed. Bowen Coking Coal purchased the Bluff coal mine from Carabella Resources in 2021. Carabella Resources was granted the original 15-year mining lease over the site by the state government in 2016, for up to 1.8 million tonnes per annum of metallurgical coal.

At the time, the managing director said the company was planning on mining 5 million tonnes of product across all its operations by 2024. However, on September 14 this year, a notice was published to formally wind up the overarching Bowen PCI Pty Ltd company.

Rehabilitation works to be managed by the state government

Rehabilitation works at the Bluff coal mine site will now be managed through the department's Abandoned Mine Lands Program. Lock the Gate's Central Queensland coordinator Claire Gronow said this created a number of concerns.

"This is kind of uncharted territories. Although there's heaps of abandoned coal mines around Queensland, including the notorious Mount Morgan gold mine, that the government is required to manage, this is a relatively recent occurrence for a coal mine to simply walk away," Dr Gronow said.

Dr Gronow said that most mines are moved over to the program after they reach their end of life and have rehabilitation works done. However, in the case of the Bluff coal mine, it was still an active mine site when it closed.

"Obviously, the mine didn't go its full life," Dr Gronow said. "The rehabilitation plans would probably need to be redrawn to deal with the fact that they're halfway through the mine."

Funding for rehabilitation works

The Queensland government will now manage and rehabilitate the Bluff coal mine. The environmental permit for the Bluff coal mine, published on the Queensland government's website, shows an estimated rehabilitation cost of $12,251,470.50, as of November 6 last year.

"That seems a little low possibly, particularly since it hasn't been actively managed for the last year or two," Dr Gronow said.

Dr Gronow also expressed concerns about ongoing environmental management, including dust management and water management on the site.

"Even when it's not operating, it's a source of dust, every time the wind blows, particularly in the dry weather that we've been having, there's a dust cloud," she said.