Anglo American has announced that its new Aquila mine has achieved its first longwall shear of steelmaking metallurgical coal on schedule and on budget, marking the project’s final stages of construction and commissioning.
Located near Middlemount in Central Queensland in Australia, the Aquila mine extends the life of Anglo American’s existing Capcoal underground operations by seven years, after the company’s nearby Grasstree mine reached its end of life in recent weeks.
Tyler Mitchelson, CEO of Anglo American’s Metallurgical Coal business, said the Aquila Mine has been developed as one of Australia’s most technologically advanced underground mines, leveraging Anglo American’s advancements in underground automation technology, remote operations and data analytics.
“Safely starting up longwall mining at Aquila Mine on our original schedule, despite the effects of the pandemic, is an important milestone for our Metallurgical Coal business and will support our ongoing contribution to both the Middlemount community, and Queensland’s economy,” Mr Mitchelson continued.
“The mine uses our existing infrastructure at our Capcoal complex and supports around 600 ongoing operational roles for our Queensland-based workforce, including providing continuity of employment for our Grasstree mining team.”
Themba Mkhwanazi, CEO of Bulk Commodities, said the Aquila project was delivered on time and within the company’s budgeted attributable cost of $226 million.
“This new mine will have a total average annual saleable production of around five million tonnes of premium quality hard coking coal and benefits from low capital intensity as we are using the existing infrastructure and systems from our adjacent operations,” Mr Mkhwanazi noted.
“Aquila offers us highly attractive returns and margins at conservative long term consensus prices.”
