Environment and Resource Management

Drake Coal Project

Project summary

Drake Coal Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of QCoal Pty Ltd) is the proponent for a new open-cut coal mine to be known as the Drake Coal Project. The proposed project would be located 150 km north-west of Mackay and 17 km south of Collinsville, in the Whitsunday Regional Council local government area, in the northern Bowen Basin, Central Queensland. The proposed project would be situated adjacent to the Bowen River, within proposed mining leases (ML) 10349, ML 10350 and ML 10351 located on Lot 618 on PH 2106 and Lot 9 on DK 239.

The mine would operate seven days per week and use conventional open-cut truck and excavator methods to produce up to 10 million tonnes of run-of-mine (ROM) coal per year for up to 26 years. The mine would produce high quality coking coal and thermal coal for export markets.

Coal and/or overburden may be blasted prior to removal. Overburden would be disposed of in-pit and within purpose built out-of-pit waste rock dumps. A coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) would be constructed within the project area to screen and wash ROM coal. Coarse and fine rejects from the CHPP would initially be piped to a permanent co-disposal dam. Additional coarse and fine rejects would be buried in-pit. Washed product coal would be transported by train via the Collinsville-Newlands rail line to the Abbot Point Coal Terminal near Bowen for export using existing port facilities. A train load-out facility and balloon rail loop connecting the project to the Collinsville-Newlands main line would be constructed near the CHPP.

The estimated water demand for the project is 2300 megalitres per annum. The preferred water supply option is to obtain from SunWater an allocation from the Burdekin Falls dam pipeline and supplement water use from on-site sediment ponds. Twelve Mile Gully would be diverted and levee banks would be constructed to facilitate open-cut pit development.

The preferred option for power supply is a new 33 kilovolt (kV) transmission line constructed adjacent to the existing 33 kV transmission line at Sonoma Mine.

The preferred option for workforce accommodation is to house the 350 peak construction personnel and 480 peak operational personnel in Collinsville in houses or village accommodation, or in Bowen.

Site access would be from the existing Bowen Developmental Road.

Queensland assessment process

Environmental Protection Act 1994

The proponent applied to undertake a voluntary environmental impact statement (EIS), which was accepted on 9 April 2010. The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) is managing the EIS process under Chapter 3, Part 1 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act).

Commonwealth assessment process

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

The Drake Coal Project has been determined by the Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to be a controlled action under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The controlling provisions are Sections 18 and 18A (listed threatened species and communities). The State’s EIS process has been accredited for the assessment under Part 8 of the EPBC Act in accordance with the bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Queensland (2004). In accordance with the bilateral agreement a stand-alone report about matters relevant to the controlling provisions has been presented as a separate chapter of the EIS for assessment.

Public notification of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

The process for the assessment of the project is as follows:

EHP’s chief executive invites written submissions from any person in relation to the EIS starting on Monday 14 May 2012 until close of business on Monday 25 June 2012.  Submissions should be addressed to:

The Chief Executive
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
Attention: The EIS Co-ordinator, Drake Coal Project
GPO Box 2454
BRISBANE QLD 4001

A properly made submission is one that:

Please note that it is a statutory requirement that all submissions will be forwarded to the proponent so that they may consider them and provide a response to EHP.

An electronic copy of the EIS can be obtained from the QCoal website at www.qcoal.com.au. A CD copy of the EIS can be obtained at a cost of $30 by contacting Catherine Batterby, Stakeholder Manager on telephone (07) 3002 2900 or email at info@qcoal.com.au.

Further information

Copies of publicly available documents can be obtained by accessing the links below:

Final Terms of Reference (PDF, 370K)* 

Initial Advice Statement (PDF, 2.7M)* describing the project

Public notice (sections 51 & 52 EP Act) (PDF, 56K)*

For further information about the EIS process for the Drake Coal Project, contact the EIS Co-ordinator.

* Requires Adobe Reader

Last updated 10 May 2012

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