VULCAN SOUTH COAL MINE

A small-scale mining operation, which includes an open-cut mining area and a smaller highwall mining trial area. Premium hard coking coal will be extracted from three separate open-cut pits for approximately seven year life of mine, following an approximately two year construction period. Coal extraction of approximately 13.5 Mt of run-of-mine (ROM) coal, consisting predominately of hard coking coal (with an incidental thermal secondary product) at a rate of up to 1.95 Million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). A mine infrastructure area is planned along with a modular coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), rail loop and train load-out facility at a location between the northern and central pits. The CHPP will include tailings dewatering technologies to maximise water recycling and to produce a dry tailings waste product for permanent storage within active waste rock dumps. No wet tailings are proposed and therefore no tailings dams are required. At each of the three pits, out-of-pit waste rock dumps will be established prior to commencing in-pit dumping activities that will continue for the life of the operation. Ancillary infrastructure, including a ROM pad, offices, roads, fuel storage & workshops and surface water management infrastructure will be established to support the operation. Realignment of the existing Saraji Road and services infrastructure required. The mining process will involve coal being extracted via open-cut pits through truck-and-shovel mining operations in addition to the highwall mining trial in the northern aspect.