Our History
Development work for the Crinum
mine
BMA's coal mines are located in the coal rich Bowen Basin which covers an area of 75,000km2 of Permian Age marine and freshwater sediments. The Basin is roughly triangular in shape, extending around 550km from its northern peak at Collinsville, southwards to its base at Theodore, where it is approximately 250km wide.
Since 1960, known coal reserves in the Bowen Basin have risen from 550 million tonnes to more then 25,000 million tonnes currently. At the same time, production from the Bowen Basin has grown from 750,000 tonnes to over 115 million tonnes a year.
Explorer Ludwig Leichardt noted the existence of coal in Central Queensland during one of his expeditions in 1845. However, the state's coal mining industry was based for many years in the Moreton Basin of south-east Queensland, after mining started near Ipswich in 1843.
The first attempt to mine coal in the Bowen Basin was in 1892/93 at Tolmies, near Blackwater, but the workings were abandoned in 1900. It was not until the early 1960s that coal exploration was conducted in the Bowen Basin on a large scale.
This led to the commencement of open-cut mining operations at Moura in 1961. Meanwhile, Utah Development Company had committed to large scale development of the Central Queensland coal deposits in the 1960s and 1970s with the aim of supplying a burgeoning world steel industry.
Following the discovery of significant coking coal reserves, Utah Development Company established the Blackwater open-cut mine in 1967 and subsequently, for the Central Queensland Coal Association (CQCA) joint venture, developed Goonyella, Peak Downs, Saraji and Norwich Park open-cut coal mines and the Hay Point Coal Export Terminal. Mitsubishi Development Corporation had been a foundation member of the CQCA joint venture from 1968, along with Utah Development Company, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP in 1984.
In response to an increasing demand for high grade coking and thermal coals around the world, Gregory Mine was commissioned by BHP in 1979 and BHP Mitsui Coal developed the Riverside Mine adjacent to Goonyella Mine in 1983 and South Walker Creek Mine in 1996.
Crinum underground mine, near Emerald, commenced development in 1994 and produced its first longwall coal in 1997. Broadmeadow Mine , BMA's punch longwall operation located on the Goonyella Riverside lease commenced longwall production in 2005.
Poitrel Mine is the most recent open-cut mining operation to be developed by BHP Mitsui Coal, which commenced in 2006.