Anglo American battles underground fire at Australian coal mine
SYDNEY, June 30 (Reuters) -Anglo American AAL.L said on Sunday it was battling an underground fire at its Grosvenor metallurgical coal mine in Australia's Queensland state after a blaze ignited there on Saturday.
The mine site is in the coal mining town of Moranbah, located approximately 1,000 km (621 miles) north of state capital Brisbane. It is the same mine where an explosion in May 2020 critically injured five workers.
"We are continuing to manage a combustion event underground at Grosvenor Mine, following a localised ignition at the longwall on Saturday," Anglo American said on Facebook on Sunday.
"Our priority is to safely extinguish the underground fire, which emergency response teams are managing from the surface."
The site was closed, with only essential emergency services team members in attendance, it said in an earlier Facebook post.
Anglo American said work had started to temporarily seal the mine from the surface, which was a "critical step" in stopping smoke from the fire impacting residents in the town of 9,425 people.
"Due to the highly complex and evolving nature of this event, this will take time as we need to ensure the safety of all emergency teams undertaking this work," the company said.
All mine workers were safely evacuated after the fire ignited.
A spokesperson for Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said the agency was not at the incident, which was being handled by the mine.
Queensland Mines Minister Scott Stewart said there would be a "full and thorough investigation" into the fire, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported on Sunday.
The Grosvenor mine produced 2.797 million tons of metallurgical coal in 2023, making up 17% of Anglo American's coal output, according to its annual report. The company is the world's third largest exporter of metallurgical coal.
At the mine, the company uses the longwall mining method, a method used to extract long panels of coal in a single slice.
Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
