THE next big milestone Stanmore Coal’s managing director Nick Jorss looks forward to is seeing off the first shipment of coal in May from the Isaac Plains coal mine.

It follows Wednesday’s big moment, when the company processed raw coal for the first time.

The mine is just outside of Moranbah.

Stanmore Coal bought the mine, which had been mothballed since September 2014, for $1 in July last year from Sumitomo and Vale.

While the wash plant where the coal was processed was the one the previous owner had used, Stanmore had introduced a new “more efficient” dragline operation, which removed the overburden.

“We had actually extracted a fair bit (of coal) before that, but it hadn’t gone through the wash plant,” Mr Jorss said.

“We just ran it (for the first time since taking over last week).

“It can process 450 tonnes of coal an hour.

“Now we know it’s up and running and working. That’s the main thing.”

He said the buyers of the coal had predominately all been finalised, with most of the metallurgical coal heading to steel mills in Japan and Korea.

He expects the first shipment to leave in May, around the same time of the mines’ official opening.

He said most of the 150 workers from the broader region required for work had been recruited, through Gladstone-based Golding Contractors.

It was reported earlier that more than $7 million in royalties, in addition to state and federal government taxes, would flow back to the state.

It was hoped the mine would have a 10-year lifespan.

During that time it would set aside $32 million for the eventual rehabilitation of the mine site.


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