GUNNEDAH Shire's only coal producer – Whitehaven Mining – has an optimistic outlook on the industry's long-term prospects with news it will build a $6 million washery plant.
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The general manager of the American-owned Whitehaven, Keith Ross, said a development application would be lodged with the shire council in the next three weeks and it was hoped the washery would be operational by the end of the year.
It will be built on the former Vickery coal loader site, about 3km west of the Gunnedah township.
The loader was bought this year from Rio Tinto which operated the Vickery open cut coal mine between 1991 and 1998.
The Vickery mine is some 23km north-west of Gunnedah.
Mr Ross said Whitehaven produced about 700,000 tonnes of thermal coal, with most of it being exported.
The venture was "proceeding very well" and the company was looking at options for future development.
The old washery, which was built 30 years ago, would go on to a care-and-maintenance basis when the new plant was commissioned.
Mr Ross said Whitehaven had bought land adjoining the railway line and had reached agreement with the shire council to construct a connecting road from the loader site to Quia Rd, crossing the line near the old
abattoir.
Whitehaven had also been assessing the extent and quantity of coal reserves in the area, drilling and taking samples on the Wean Rd.
"We're assessing whether development is a viable proposition," Mr Ross said.
Whitehaven is a subsidiary of large mining house American Metals and Coal International which produces and markets about 30 million tonnes of coal around the world.
American Metals chairman, Fritz Kundrun, attended the official opening of Whitehaven in May last year and said the company was taking steps to identify and acquire a substantially larger resource base in the Gunnedah shire.
