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Our newest and largest coal mine

Maules Creek produces some of the highest quality high energy thermal coal in Australia, and has been in operation since 2015. ​​

The mine has coal reserves to support 40 years of production, and we anticipate coal sales from the mine will deliver $2.4 billion in royalties in its first 21 years of production.

The mine uses ultra-class mining equipment.

Operation Maules Creek
Ownership Whitehaven Coal 75%, Itochu 15%, J Power 10%
Commenced operations 2015
Location 45km south east of Narrabri
Type of operation Open cut coal mine
Operating hours 24 hours a day / 7 days a week
Production approval 13Mt run of mine coal per annum
Stage of operation In operation
Workforce ~700

Maules Creek mine
virtual tour
Rehabilitation
More on rehabilitation
Rehabilitation at Maules Creek will result in the development of more than 1,000 ha of woodland forest. To date, approximately
322 ha of progressively rehabilitated land has commenced within the ecosystem establishment phase.

Rehabilitation at Maules Creek is based on a geomorphic landform design which aims to mimic the shape and function of natural landscape features. This approach supports greater long-term erosional stability, improves establishment of self-sustaining ecosystems and requires less long-term care-and-maintenance.

The proposed post-mining land use includes a mixture of native vegetation communities including grassy woodland, shrubby woodland/open forest, riparian forest, native forest and woodland.

Rehabilitating woodland habitats
To date, over 100,000 trees have been planted as part of progressive rehabilitation at Maules Creek.

Progress

Approvals

Community

Maules Creek CCC MEMBER DETAILS AND CONTACTS

Community Consultative Committee applications

The Maules Creek Community Consultative Committee (CCC) is looking for a mix of people who live locally or are members of a local community or stakeholder group (eg social, environment, Aboriginal or industry) to contribute constructively to committee discussions, attend around four meetings a year, and communicate information about the mine’s social and environmental operations between the committee and the broader community. Committee membership is voluntary. Whitehaven employees and contractors are not eligible for appointment to the committee as a community representative.

To make an Expression of Interest to join the Maules Creek CCC, please review the criteria, complete an application form and return it to the independent chairperson of the CCC at [email protected].

Community representative nomination form
Other stakeholder group representative nomination form

Environmental Management, Monitoring & Compliance

Maules Creek Timeline

FY13

Project approved by Federal and NSW Governments

FY14

Construction began

FY15

First coal railed

less than one year after construction began

FY16

Maules Creek named NSW Mine of the Year

Produced 7.4 Mt saleable coal in first year of commercial production

FY17

Increased production to annualised rate of 10.5 Mtpa

FY21

Record annual ROM production of 12.7Mt

Continuation Project Update

Whitehaven is currently preparing a new State Significant Development (SSD) application to seek approval for the continuation of the Maules Creek Coal Mine (MCCM) within the existing mining tenement.

Contacts

Maules Creek Mine

Contact us via email or our community hotline for more information, to provide feedback or to lodge a complaint.

1800WHAVEN (1800 942 836)

All contacts

Weather Monitoring

View Maules Creek weather forecast

Blast Notification

Next scheduled blast: Tuesday 25th March 2025

3:30 PM

*Time is indicative and could be approximately 30 minutes before or up to 60 minutes after
Blast numbers:

2025-38

 

 

Information updated:

24/03/2025  11:00am

Notes:

The Proponent may carry out a maximum of:

  1. 1 blast a day; unless an additional blast is required following a blast misfire; and
  1.  4 blasts a week, averaged over a calendar year; for the project.

This condition does not apply to blasts that generate ground vibration of 0.5 mm/s or less at any residence or privately-owned land or to blasts required to ensure the safety of the mine or its workers.

For the purposes of this condition, a blast refers to a single blast event, which may involve a number of individual blasts fired in quick succession in a discrete area of the mine.

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