Tahmoor Colliery
 Tahmoor Colliery entrance in April 2010 | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
  Tahmoor Colliery | |
| Location | Tahmoor |
| state | New South Wales |
| Country | Australia |
| Coordinates | 34°15′00″S 150°34′41″E / 34.250°S 150.578°E |
| Production | |
| Products | Coking coal |
| Production | 2 000 000 tonnes |
| Financial year | 2017 |
| Type | Underground |
| History | |
| Opened | 1980 |
| Owner | |
| Company | SIMEC Group |
| Website | www |
Tahmoor Colliery is an underground coal mine at Tahmoor in the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales, Australia. Owned by the SIMEC Group, a GFG Alliance company, the colliery has been shut down since February 2025 owing to financial troubles.
History
[edit]Construction of the mine was commenced by Clutha Development in 1975, and opened in 1980 by BP Coal, which by then had had purchased Clutha. It was sold to Conzinc Riotinto Australia in 1989, Austal Coal in 1997, Centennial Coal in 2005, and Xstrata in 2007. In 2013, Xstrata merged with Glencore, and Tahmoor Colliery became known as Glencore's Tahmoor Underground. Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd was acquired on 20 April 2018 by the SIMEC mining division of the GFG Alliance started trading as Tahmoor Coking Coal Operations (TCCO).[1][2][3]
In May 2025, the New South Wales Government gave approval to the mine to continue operating for at least another eight years.[4]
In February 2025, around 450 employees were stood down, initially on paid leave for four weeks, after being told that the shutdown was due to unpaid bills which had caused deliveries from key suppliers to be paused.[5] As of June 2025[update], the colliery was still not operational, with 560 workers workers having been stood down indefinitely, owing to the ongoing financial problems of parent company GFG Alliance.[6]
Incidents
[edit]Tahmoor Colliery has a history of outbursts, in which gas trapped in the coal violently escapes during mining, throwing hundreds of tonnes of coal and rock, and large amounts of suffocating gas. One miner was killed as a consequence of one of these outbursts in 1985. In 1994, it was reported that Tahmoor had recorded 89 outbursts up to April 1992. In response to that fatality, practices and equipment were upgraded, initially to provide a separately-ventilated and armoured operator cabin, and later to provide remote control.[7]
In September 2018, two men were trapped 160 metres (520 ft) underground when the lift cage jammed in the mine shaft. They were uninjured, and rescued late in the evening by Fire & Rescue New South Wales.[8]
Description
[edit]As of June 2025[update] the colliery is operated by SIMEC, part of the GFG Alliance owned by British businessman Sanjeev Gupta.[9] As of May 2025[update] the mine was up for sale, with a price of A$800 million.[4]
The mine operates in the Bulli coal seam. Most of the mine product is hard coking coal used for steel making. A small quantity of steaming blend coal used for power generation is also produced. Both products are exported to Europe and Asia,[10][11] a total of 75% of its production.[4] The mine was reported in 2017 as having 57 Mt (56,000,000 long tons; 63,000,000 short tons) of reserves and 650 Mt (640,000,000 long tons; 720,000,000 short tons) total resource.[2]
The mine produces a high level of carbon emissions, second highest of all coal mines in NSW, releasing over a million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2024 just from its operations.[4]
Railway connection
[edit]The colliery is connected to the Main Southern railway line via a balloon loop that opened in May 1981.[12] In 2013, extension of the mine was anticipated to take it below a railway tunnel on the Main Southern railway line. To avoid the risk of subsidence within the tunnel, Xstrata funded the construction of a diversion around Redbank Hill to remove trains from the tunnel, which was filled with rock and sealed.[13][14]
References
[edit]- ^ Robinson, Fiona (25 October 2019). "Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd: MINE OPERATIONS PLAN: Tahmoor Coking Coal Operations – SIMEC Mining, 2019-2020" (PDF). SIMEC Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2022.
- ^ a b Creagh, Ben (3 January 2018). "Glencore offloads Tahmoor coal mine to GFG Alliance". Australian Mining. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ^ "Our history – Tahmoor Colliery". Tahmoor Colliery – Tahmoor Coking (metallurgical) Mine. 18 October 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d Wright, Christopher (28 May 2025). "NSW approves extension of its second most polluting coal mine, to the benefit of no-one but its owner". RenewEconomy. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ Laul, Brian (9 February 2025). "Tahmoor mine crisis: hundreds stood down over unpaid debts". Good Morning Macarthur. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ Donnellan, Angelique; Coulter, Ellen (10 June 2025). "GFG Alliance workers across Australia face an uncertain future as Sanjeev Gupta's financial woes worsen". ABC News. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Legislative Assembly Hansard – 12 April 1994". Hansard & House Papers. Parliament of New South Wales. 12 April 1994. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ^ "Two men trapped 160m down NSW coal mine shaft". News.com.au. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ^ "Tahmoor Colliery – Tahmoor Coking (metallurgical) Mine". Tahmoor Colliery – Tahmoor Coking (metallurgical) Mine. 20 February 2025. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Tahmoor Coking Coal Operations". SIMEC Group. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ^ "Tahmoor Colliery". Wollondilly Shire Council. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ Signalling & Safeworkng Railway Digest September 1981 page 277
- ^ Southern Highlands coal miner moves rail line ABC News 5 December 2012
- ^ Cox, Michael (15 January 2013). "Rail tunnel will soon be history". Wollondilly Advertiser. Retrieved 11 December 2018.