Thick coal seam, Australian (NSW) opencast
A Department of Mineral Resources geologist inspects a seam of about 30 feet thickness at Westside opencast near Wallsend on Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia.
The Awabakal nation, whose country is just south of Newcastle, had named the area around Lake Macquarie Nikkin-bah – place of coal. Aborigines had been known to use coal for cooking food in many parts of NSW.
William Bryant, a convict escaping to Timor, was the first European to find coal near Newcastle in 1791. Six years later Lieutenant John Shortland, while searching for more escaped convicts, discovered measures of ‘very good’ coal at the mouth of the Hunter River. The coal, exposed at low tide and easily worked, was shipped to Sydney for local sale and, in what is probably Australia’s first export, for shipment to Bengal, in India. In 1804, Governor King established a particularly harsh penal colony for recalcitrant convicts to mine the coal.
Initial uses were for domestic heating and for small steam and gas plants. By 1814 a surplus of coal eventually led to an export of 154 tons, also to Bengal, which was paid for with rum. Convict labour was eventually superseded by private companies such as the Australian Agricultural Company (1824). Up to 1828 about 50,000 tons was mined but with the introduction of private companies and mechanisation coal production increased to 368,000 tons in 1860, one million tons in 1872 and over 10 Mt (millions of tonnes) by 1920.
NSW has (2008) recoverable coal reserves totalling an enormous 12 billion tonnes within 60 operating mines and colliery holdings and more than 30 major development proposals.
Thick coal seam, Australian (NSW) opencast
A Department of Mineral Resources geologist inspects a seam of about 30 feet thickness at Westside opencast near Wallsend on Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia.
The Awabakal nation, whose country is just south of Newcastle, had named the area around Lake Macquarie Nikkin-bah – place of coal. Aborigines had been known to use coal for cooking food in many parts of NSW.
William Bryant, a convict escaping to Timor, was the first European to find coal near Newcastle in 1791. Six years later Lieutenant John Shortland, while searching for more escaped convicts, discovered measures of ‘very good’ coal at the mouth of the Hunter River. The coal, exposed at low tide and easily worked, was shipped to Sydney for local sale and, in what is probably Australia’s first export, for shipment to Bengal, in India. In 1804, Governor King established a particularly harsh penal colony for recalcitrant convicts to mine the coal.
Initial uses were for domestic heating and for small steam and gas plants. By 1814 a surplus of coal eventually led to an export of 154 tons, also to Bengal, which was paid for with rum. Convict labour was eventually superseded by private companies such as the Australian Agricultural Company (1824). Up to 1828 about 50,000 tons was mined but with the introduction of private companies and mechanisation coal production increased to 368,000 tons in 1860, one million tons in 1872 and over 10 Mt (millions of tonnes) by 1920.
NSW has (2008) recoverable coal reserves totalling an enormous 12 billion tonnes within 60 operating mines and colliery holdings and more than 30 major development proposals.