Appin West
Appin West
Appin West, known as The Douglas Project during its development stages, is an extension to the existing Appin Mine that accesses valuable coking coal reserves to the north of the previous Tower Mine operations. Appin West is situated on Douglas Park Road, near Douglas Park, to the west of Appin, approximately 30 minutes from Wollongong.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries approved Illawarra Coal’s application for longwall mining operations at the site in November 2006.
Appin West is critical to the future of Illawarra Coal in sustaining the business over the long term.
The approval of Appin West ensured the continued supply of coal to the Australian steel industry and secured continued employment for up to 400 people.
The Appin West site will also further cement Illawarra Coal’s position as a significant contributor to the economies of the Wollondilly and Illawarra regions.
Through our strong commitment to environmentally sustainable mining, the Appin West mine plan was redesigned in order to avoid longwall mining directly beneath the Nepean River. As a result we have sterilised 12 million tonnes of coal and have had to drive our roadways much further to position our longwalls.
The site also hosts Illawarra Coal’s first water filtration plant, which was opened in December 2006. The water filtration plant allows the Appin West site to convert low level of saline underground water into water which can be reused on site as well as at other nearby mines. More than two megalitres of mine water can be treated and reused everyday, which is equivalent to two Olympic-size swimming pools.
The Appin Mine won Sydney Water’s main award for water saving in late 2007, mostly for the result achieved by this plant.
