Glencore reopens Integra mine

Integra, formerly known as Glennies Creek, was shut in 2014 by its former owners, the Brazilian company Vale.

Global mining and commodities trader Glencore bought the underground side and Maitland-based miner Bloomfield bought the open-cut mine, the wash plant and the rail loop.

Glencore’s Australian coal head, Ian Cribb, said the Integra underground mine had been on care and maintenance since July 2014 and Glencore had continued to assess options for a restart against global coal market conditions.

“The Integra mine has one longwall block already formed, providing an opportunity to begin mining with minimal delays or additional investment,”  Mr Cribb said.

 “Over the next two years, we also plan to complete and extract coal from a second longwall block that has already been partially developed at the mine.”

Glencore expects to produce 1.3 million tonnes of coking coal at Integra in 2017 to meet an identified need in the metallurgical (steelmaking) coal market.

Mr Cribb said a number of Glencore’s mines had closed or were reaching the end of their scheduled life, meaning the extra production from Integra was not expected to increase the company’s oveall coal sales from Australia.

He said Glencore would manage the mine and hoped to restart the mine in early 2017.