Situated in the Whittingham Coal Measures, it is part of the Singleton Super Group including the Barrett, Liddell, Arties and Pikes Gully seams.
With the exception of the Crinum and Broadmeadow underground longwall operations, the mines are open-cut, using dragline and truck/shovel fleets for overburden removal.
The mines managed by the BMA have a capacity to produce 58 million tonnes of coal annually, which are currently sold to over 93 customers in 23 countries, including Japan, the UK, Europe, South America, Korea, Taiwan and India.
The company sells approximately 40% of its coal to export markets, primarily for use in power stations and steel mills in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Europe.
In 2015 it was responsible for a major release of coal fines into the Wollangambe River and World Heritage listed areas of the Blue Mountains National Park.
[9] Centennial Coal has been dumping mine effluent into the Wollangambe River for approximately 30 years, effectively killing large sections of it.
[11] As of 2015, Centennial Coal has applied to extend the Springvale Mine, undermining swamps of "National Environmental Significance"[12] and dumping up to 50 million litres a day of mine effluent into the Coxs River which also flows through the Blue Mountains World Heritage area and into Sydney's drinking water catchments.
The mining operations are based in the Hunter Valley just south of Maitland, 25 kilometres from Newcastle and Port Waratah.
The Mine Lease covers approximately 952 hectares with George Booth Drive to the north, the F3 Freeway to the east and Mount Sugarloaf in the centre.
[19] Established in 1993 as a joint venture among major international companies and their Australian subsidiaries, Ensham Resources Pty Limited is one of Queensland's largest and fastest-growing thermal coal producers.
[20] Felix Resources[21][22] is an expanding company with a focus on coal mining and the development and operation of coal-related assets.
Felix Resources is one of six companies involved in the construction of the NCIG terminal which is designed with a final capacity of 66 million tonnes per annum.
The project is a joint venture between Brisbane company CAML Resources (63%), ICRA Foxleigh, part of the Japanese Itochu group (20.6%), and Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) (16.4%).
The mine commenced operations in late 1999 and presently exports coal to steel mills in Korea, Japan, and elsewhere.
[24] One of the world's largest privately owned energy companies with major investments in oil refineries and petroleum products, primarily in Japan.
Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty Ltd and its Australian subsidiary, Bligh Coal Limited together own 85% of the joint venture.
These assets include the Cullen Valley Mine located in the Western Coalfield of New South Wales, Australia.
[33] New Hope is an independent energy company which has open-cut mines at Acland on the Darling Downs and at Rosewood near Ipswich.
The New Acland open cut mine is located approximately 150 kilometres west of Brisbane in the Darling Downs region of Queensland.
The mining method used at New Acland is an open-cut multi-thin-seam operation which utilises trucks, excavators and front-end loaders.
The New Acland Mine is located 16 kilometres northwest of Oakey on the Darling Downs in South East Queensland and is the company's major production source with approximately 3.92 million tons produced during fiscal 2008.
The balance of coal production in the fiscal year 2008 of 531,000 tons came from the New Oakleigh mine in the West Moreton district, near Ipswich.
In September 2008, the company announced the sale of New Saraji Coal project to the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA).
[35] Peabody Pacific is one of Australia's largest mining companies with a total of 10 operations in Queensland and New South Wales.
North Goonyella underground and Eaglefield open-cut mines are located at the northern end of the Bowen Basin, about 160 kilometres west of Mackay.
Mining commenced in late 2006; production in 2009 was 8.3 million tons, and Peabody plans to make further investments to increase output.
Bengalla Mine is a 6.6 million tonne per year open-cut operation located about four kilometres west of Muswellbrook.
In Australia, Vale operates mines in Queensland's Bowen Basin and the Hunter Valley district of New South Wales with a nominal production capacity of 8Mtpa.
Glencore (formerly Xstrata) is a major global diversified mining group, listed on the London and Swiss stock exchanges.