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There are five major coalfields located within the Sydney-Gunnedah Basin: the Hunter, Southern, Western, Gunnedah and Newcastle coalfields, with further coal reserves located in the Gloucester and Oaklands Basins.
The high quality black coal found in the Sydney-Gunnedah Basin dates back to the Permian era between 225 and 180 million years ago and began with ancient vegetation transformed by microbial action, geological pressure and heat. This vast basin stretches for 500 kilometres and is 150 kilometres wide.
89% of NSW electricity comes from coal fired power stations, with local coal mines meeting the total thermal coal requirements for the State.
The Hunter coalfield is the largest coal-producing region in NSW, currently concentrated around the Singleton and Muswellbrook districts. It produces the bulk of thermal coal for NSW’s electricity generation needs as well as for export markets. The Hunter coal seams are mostly at shallow depths of less than 300 metres, enabling cost effective multi-seam, open cut mining operations. The total saleable coal production for the Hunter coalfield in 2008-09 was 81.74 million tonnes (Mt).
The Southern coalfield is the only region in NSW producing hard coking coal, which is a high grade coal used in the production of steel. This world renowned coal is mostly found in the Bulli seam, requiring underground mining at depths of more than 400 metres. Coking coal from other seams in the Southern coalfield, such as Wongawilli, is blended with Bulli seam coal for various uses and markets. Further resources of prime coking coal have been identified nearby to the north in the Balgownie seams underlying the Camden, Campbelltown and Picton districts. This coalfield produced 10.27Mt of saleable coal in 2008-09.
The Western coalfield extends from near Lithgow to Rylstone, producing mostly thermal coal for local coal-fired power stations and cement manufacture with small quantities exported. Whilst mining has been undertaken in this region for many years, significant resources identified in the Lithgow and Ulan seams around Rylstone and the Ulan-Bylong area remain for development. Total saleable coal production in the Western coalfield for 2008-09 was 24.79Mt.
The Gunnedah coalfield is NSW’s most rapidly expanding coalfield, even though coal mining began there as early as 1889. The Gunnedah coalfield has the potential to become one of the biggest coal mining regions in the State, with estimated recoverable coal reserves of 1.48 billion tonnes - about 13% of NSW total coal reserves. Insitu inferred reserves (not geologically verified), may approach or exceed 30 billion tonnes – as much as 40% of the State’s total coal reserves. Further exploration in the Gunnedah Basin is expected to identify significant additional recoverable reserves of both thermal and coking coal. Saleable coal production in the Gunnedah coalfield in 2008-09 was 4.8Mt.
The Newcastle coalfield incorporates Cessnock in the west, Maitland to the north, the central area of Teralba and Wyong in the south, with the central and southern areas containing the bulk of coal production. There are 10 seams yielding both soft coking and thermal coal in the Newcastle coalfield. The last major undeveloped thermal coal resources are situated in the Tuggerah Lake area and the Mandalong area, north west of Wyong. The Newcastle coalfield produced 15.1Mt of saleable coal in 2008-09.
The Gloucester Basin, north of Newcastle, stretches 38km long and 20km wide. There is only one major producer in the Basin mining several different seams and producing approximately 1.74Mt of saleable coal in 2008-09.
Information sourced from NSW Trade and Investment - Mineral Resources
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