Jindal Steel & Power Ltd’s step down subsidiary in Australia, Wollongong Coal Ltd, will recommence operations at one of its mines in New South Wales soon.

The company has recently obtained regulatory permission for a five-year extension to the Wongawilli coal mine’s licence.

Wollongong Coal would resume non-operational mine shortly, the company indicated to the Australian Stock Exchange. It has awarded a two-year contract to a local contract miner to operate the mine. “We will now begin preliminary planning and discussions with key stakeholders in the expectations that operations at Wongawilli will recommence in early 2016,” said the company’s Operations Manager, Rhys Brett.

Wollongong Coal has signed a two-year contract with Delta SBD, one of the largest contract mining companies in the Australian underground coal mining industry, to oversee and manage the recommencement of the operations at Wongawilli. Delta SBD will provide technical expertise, personnel and equipment services at the mine, as well as managing day-to-day operations.

Wollongong Coal, until middle of last year, used to operate this coking coalmine on its own. The company’s other coalmine Russel Valley is also non-operational since September last year. However, the New South Wales authorities have recently cleared its underground expansion project. The mine was making losses and operation was “not sustainable”, the company had said at the time of suspension of operation.

The company, however, had said that clearance of the underground project would “allow” it to “recommence extraction of high-quality coking coal”.

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