The Curragh Coal Mine is an open-cut, coal mine located 30 km north of Blackwater in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 88 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine had an annual production capacity of 7 million tonnes of coal.[1] The mine covers 12,600 ha of the Rangal Coal measures in the Bowen Basin.[2]
In 2012, production at the mine was increased to 8.5 million tonnes a year.[3] Later in the year operations changed from seven days per week to five.[4]
Curragh Coal Mine was previously owned by Wesfarmers Resources and has an expected mine life to 2025. Overburden is removed by Thiess.[2]
In 2017, Coronado Coal Group purchased Curragh Coal Mine from Wesfarmers Resources.[5]
In January 2020, a 33-year-old worker was killed after being trapped under heavy machinery at the mine. A number of charges relating to the incident were laid by the Office of the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999.[8] Another worker was fatally injured at the mine in November 2021.[9]
