The Blair Athol Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the Bowen Basin of Central Queensland, Australia. It is located over the former site of the township of Blair Athol. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 195 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 12.9 million tonnes of coal. Coal was first discovered at this location in 1864 and has been mined from this area since this time by different companies. TerraCom, a wholly owned subsidiary of Orion Mining, recommissioned the site in 2017.
During this 5+ year team, our Ausdrill team had to contend with vibration restrictions related to a nearby cemetery. We engaged a specialised blasting contractor to ensure we were working to an accurate model for vibration prediction; used fully-programmable electronic detonators to minimise MIC; as well as adjusted our drilling diameters. We also explored time-change and pattern size options, to increase ground powder factor, while keeping under vibration limits.
