Preparing to Operate Dartbrook

AUSTRALIAN Pacific Coal is preparing for handover of Dartbrook mine, which is expected to occur by the end of June.

While Nathan Tinkler does not have a formal role with the company he is on the ground visiting the operation and reporting back to the two executive directors of Australian Pacific Coal (AQC).

Nathan Tinkler grabbing a coffee before work at Asser House

Mr Tinkler said at the moment AQC are assessing the economics of a bord-and-pillar operation at the Dartbrook.

“It was previously a long wall operation and we’d propose a bord-and-pillar operation which is obviously a lot lower production but it is also a lot less gas so a lot safer operation and then long term open cut approval will be the focus,” said Mr Tinkler.

“The mine is already licensed for underground and we don’t really have any licensing issues, we will have to put a new plan of operation in place and that is usually a three month event so we’ll notify the department of our intention to take the mine out of care and maintenance and then move in,” he said.

“If the AQC board were to decide they wanted to go ahead I would think we could have coal by the end of the year.

“If it goes ahead it could be 100 or 150 jobs.

“There are a lot of skilled people around and I think one of the things that the AQC board is aware of is the high rates of youth unemployment in the area and so with underground miners, traditionally there has been a lot of underground mining in the Hunter Valley but most of the developments over the last 20 years have been open cut so there’s not really a lot of underground mining skills so I think it is a good opportunity for a training facility in the Hunter Valley to focus on getting a good number of youth employed and getting them into work.

“It would be good to employ some people and I’m hopeful that would be the case, so much of it depends on coal prices and the Australian dollar but certainly the Hunter Valley needs investment at this part of the cycle and there are not many people doing that,” he said.

“It’s going to be a difficult time while ever Rio and Anglo, two of the four majors in the Hunter Valley have got everything for sale and I doubt very much whether BHP is far behind them and that will be a big transition for the Hunter Valley,” Nathan Tinkler said.

Nathan Tinkler said he is glad to be back in the Hunter Valley with mining and while the industry is going through a low he is optimistic about the future of mining locally.

“I love it in the Hunter Valley, I’ve always loved the Hunter Valley, my love with the Hunter Valley probably pushed me to do some things that I shouldn’t have done and made some business decisions I shouldn’t have made, but I do love it down here, this is where I am from and I’ve worked in the mines down here, I understand that sort of comradery and that sort of lifestyle and I enjoyed it when I was part of it,” said Mr Tinkler.

“But unfortunately the way the industry has gone in the last little while it’s probably not the enjoyable place to work like it was five or ten years ago,” he said.

“When all of these mines are for sale and you’re working in them and the cloud that puts over families is not very nice I’ve been there too as an apprentice I worked at Bayswater Coal and we had four owners in four years and every time we thought everyone was going to be thrown out and look at it now, they were doing three or four million tonnes and now it’s doing 25.

“Eventually these mines do find the right owner, they change gears and they go forward, but there is no doubt it creates a period of stagnant growth and add into that a government that sits on its hands and doesn’t do anything and throw in a PAC and it makes it bloody tough on the industry.

“But there’ll be some great companies built over the next three to five years out of these lows and the interesting thing from an Australian point of view is it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about coal, iron ore, oil and gas they’re all at 10 or 20 year lows as far as pricing goes.

In terms of how he sees the Dartbrook mine operating alongside horse studs he said local people understand how the two industries can exist and they do support mining, but the issue is with people in Sydney.

“I think we’ve existed for a long time, I think it’s just an issue now because the horse studs feel like they’re politically well connected and the thing that infuriates me personally is that these decisions are being made without regard for the Hunter Valley, they are being made in the corridors of power in Sydney but with hand shake deals and secret meetings rather than by public assessment which was what the PAC was put in place for and then you get 17,000 positive submissions and some Sydneysiders with an agenda decide that they are going to side with their mates that’s a big problem for the Hunter Valley,” he said.

“Drayton was approved by the department of planning they recommended it and the PAC has obviously gone to Rosehill or Randwick one day and decided that they don’t want to approve it,” he said.

“I’ve been on both sides of the fence and the breeding is not particularly a high employer, racing employs a lot of people but trying to reflect those numbers on the breeding operations in the Hunter Valley is fanciful.

“I read the submissions from the horse studs and they’re quite fanciful while they question the economic impact of the mine you can absolutely question the impact of their involvement in the Hunter Valley by how many people they employ and when I say how many people they employ I mean local people, I mean people that live here and earn a wage and have families and send kids to school and all those sorts of things, they are not big on that – the cheaper the better and if they can get them with a visa then even better; so that’s the moral to the horse industry and if they employed one person at a horse stud for every hundred at a mine I’d be surprised,” he said.

“I think local people do support mining, there were 17,000 submission to the PAC in favour of Drayton South I think they absolutely support it I think the local people absolutely understand what mining is to the region and that’s the employer not only for them but for future generations and was for their parents,” Nathan Tinkler said.