Coal mine owners walk away and leave rehabilitation to state
A central Queensland mine has been abandoned and will now be managed by the state government.
Owners of the Bluff coal mine, Bowen Coking Coal (BCC), went into voluntary administration in July last year, with McGrathNicol's Mark Holland and Shaun Fraser appointed as administrators.
The open cut mine is south of the township of Bluff, located 20 kilometres east of Blackwater and 174km west of Rockhampton.
The Department of Natural Resources and Mines confirmed 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 appropriately 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.
The following year, coal prices fell and Carabella Resources went into voluntary administration in November 2020. At the time, the coal price was $US72 per tonne.
The mine was placed into care and maintenance in December 2020, before Bowen Coking Coal restarted operations, and it mined its first coal in the first quarter of 2022.
At the time, the managing director said the company was planning on mining 5 million tonnes of product across all its operations by 2024.
On September 14 this year, a notice was published on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission website to formally wind up the overarching Bowen PCI Pty Ltd company.
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.
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