In June 1986 Cyprus Australia Coal Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of a large American coal producer and marketer then holding exploration licences over the Weedina coal deposit in the far north of South Australia, submitted to the South Australian...
In June 1986 Cyprus Australia Coal Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of a large American coal producer and marketer then holding exploration licences over the Weedina coal deposit in the far north of South Australia, submitted to the South Australian Government the subject pre-feasibility study report, which describes that coal resource and presents schemes for its possible mineability, as a response to the call for proposals for fuel supply to a future coal-fired power generation plant that was issued by the Government's Future Energy Action Committee (FEAC) in 1984. Cyprus has developed six alternative mine plans using bucket wheel excavators and based upon the initial FEAC request for proposals. These correspond with retarded and accelerated mine development schedules to provide fuel for 500, 750 and 1,000 megawatt units to be constructed in 250 megawatt increments, the development beginning in the early to mid 1990s time frame. In the request for proposals, FEAC asked that submittals be based upon contained energy content calculated in lower heating values (LHV) using a formula which discounts contained energy of the coal for losses caused by moisture, oxygen and hydrogen. Preliminary coal quality data were used to derive estimated LHV for Weedina and to project coal requirements for each of the six scenarios. Initial resource assessment indicates that the Weedina coal is the highest quality mineable coal yet discovered in South Australia. Overburden is sufficiently soft to be easily mined using truck shovel or bucket wheel excavator techniques. Dewatering of the overlying and enclosing strata will be required, and preliminary geohydrological and geomechanical studies indicate that mining is technically feasible and well within the capability of modern open cast mining techniques.
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