About Illawarra Coal
Location of Illawarra Coal.
Illawarra Coal produces premium quality, hard coking coal (used in the production of steel) and some energy coal; and our vision is to be the best underground coal business in the world. We are committed to sustainable mining practices and to a Zero Harm health and safety policy.
Based in Wollongong and operating in the Illawarra and Wollondilly regions south of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, where we are a leading contributor to the local, regional, State and national economies, Illawarra Coal operates three high-volume underground longwall mines – Appin/Appin West, West Cliff (to the west of the Illawarra Escarpment) and Dendrobium (on the eastern side of the Escarpment).
As well, the Company operates the award-winning WestVAMP, a world-first power plant driven by mine air gas; and two coal preparation plants - one at West Cliff and the other, the Dendrobium preparation plant, at Port Kembla, where our regional office is also situated. We also manage the Port Kembla Coal Terminal on behalf of a consortium of partners (Illawarra Coal, Xstrata Coal, Peabody, Tahmoor Coal and Centennial Coal) and lease the terminal from the New South Wales Government.
Illawarra Coal mines from two of the region’s nine coal seams, known as Wongawilli and Bulli, at depths ranging from 180m to 550m, with seam thicknesses between 2.1m and 3.4m in strong sandstone and shale strata. Once above the ground, mined coal is transported by road and rail to be washed and blended at the West Cliff and Dendrobium preparation plants before being taken to the Port Kembla Coal Terminal for export to overseas and domestic customers, or directly to BlueScope Steel, Port Kembla for steel production.
In 2006-07, we produced 8.68 million tonnes of ROM coal and 6.89 million tonnes of clean coal. The most recent Illawarra Regional InformationService report (2006) showed that our economic impact including flow-on effects was about 5900 jobs, $520 million in Gross Regional Product and $278 million in household income. The report revealed that almost another 5 more jobs were created for every one person employed by the Company, which is the highest employment flow-on effect of any industry in the Illawarra or Wollondilly regions.
See our Vision & Values and find out about our History.
