NRW adds $120m to Baralaba contract

The extension adds a further 12 months to the existing $360 million contract that was scheduled to finish in June 2022.

NRW, which provides contract mining services at the mine through its subsidiary Golding, has maintained and operated Baralaba’s fleet of equipment and produced an ultra-low volatile pulverised coal injection (PCI) product at the site since 2018.

This involvement has been part of the Baralaba North mine’s restart after Cockatoo Coal (now Baralaba Coal) entered administration in 2015.

“(The contract) is drafted to incentivise the contractor to maximise coal production and to perform at below budget cost,” NRW chief executive officer and managing director Jules Pemberton said in 2018. “Actual project costs are reimbursable.”

NRW mines overburden and the steeply dipping coal seams, operates the coal handling plant and maintains the Baralaba town accommodation camp for mine workers.

It is also responsible for backfilling and rehabilitation of previous mine voids, as well as providing site supervision and fulfilling statutory responsibilities.

Golding stated that it maintained flexible working relationships to accommodate the variability in mining conditions and production profile.

Baralaba targeted 2.6 million back cubic metres of waste and 1.8 million tonnes of coal at the Baralaba North mine last year.

The mine is permitted to operate up to 4.1 million tonnes a year run-of-mine (ROM) coal and transport 3.5 million tonnes to Baralaba’s train load out facility near Moura.

Baralaba North is five kilometres north of the Baralaba town, where mining is conducted through truck and excavator method.