Gujarat Commissions Longwall at Wongawilli


The New South Wales Minister for Energy Ian Macdonald officially opened the Gujarat NRE Group’s latest
Australian mine, NRE Wongawilli Colliery, south west of Wollongong on Australia’s southeast coast with the
Chairman of Gujarat NRE Minerals Ltd, Arun Kumar Jagatramka; High Commissioner of India, Her Excellency
Sujatha Singh; the Consul General of India, Sujan Chinoy; former NSW Premier, the Hon. Neville Wran and others.
The Australian subsidiary of Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd., Gujarat NRE Minerals Ltd., announced during mid-August that it is in the final stages of commissioning of a longwall at its Wongawilli hard coking coal mine near Wollongong, New South Wales. As a result, raw coal production at NRE Wongawilli mine will be expanded to approximately 1.5 million metric tons per year (mt/y) from 179,000 mt/y during the year 2008-09. Gujarat NRE Minerals Chairman, Arun Kumar Jagatramka, said the opening of the longwall was excellent timing, with an expected strong increase in demand for Australian hard coking coal, especially from the Indian market.

The longwall mining equipment, which last operated in March 2007, has been successfully refurbished with a full overhaul and re-installed at the new longwall face. Gujarat NRE Minerals bought the Elouera mine from BHP Billiton in December 2007, with the company resuming coal production in May 2008.

As featured in Womp 2009 Vol 07 - www.womp-int.com