Project China Stone involves the construction and operation of a large-scale coal mine on a greenfield site in Central Queensland at the northern end of the Galilee Basin. The mine will produce up to 55 Mt/y of Run of Mine (ROM) coal, which equates to approximately 38 Mt/y of thermal coal for the export market. The mine life will be in the order of 50 years.
Coal will be mined using both open-pit and underground mining methods. Open-pit mining will involve multiple draglines and truck and shovel pre-stripping. Underground mining will involve up to three operating longwalls in two underground mining areas. Coal will be washed and processed on site and product coal will be transported from the site by rail.
The project will provide substantial economic benefits to the region, Queensland and Australia. It will create up to about 3,900 jobs during construction and up to some 3,400 jobs in the operations phase. The project will contribute up to $1,700 million annually to the economy of the Northern and Mackay Regions during the operations phase. It will also contribute significant revenue to the Queensland and Australian governments through coal royalties (approximately $5.9 billion over the life of the mine) and additional revenues associated with other government taxes.
Macmines Austasia was registered and established in Queensland, Australia in July 1999. Since its establishment, the company has been focusing on geological exploration and mining business in Queensland. In July 2007, Shanxi Meijin Energy Group in China had acquired 100% stakes of Macmines by its overseas company and became the sole shareholder of Macmines.
Meijin Energy Group was founded in 1984. It is one of the largest enterprises manufacturing coke in China at present. It involves several fields including washing & selecting raw coal; producing coal; producing coke; purifying and deep processing of coal gas & coal tar; cogeneration of heat and power; building materials; transportation and so on.
At present, the group has the production capacity of 6.3 Mt/y of coke. It also has annual production capacities of 150,000 t of coal tar, and 50,000 t of thick benzene. Besides, the group supplies Taiyuan city with coal gas, heating and so on.