AUSTRALIA

Proved amount in place (total coal, million tonnes) 106 760
Proved recoverable reserves (total coal, million tonnes) 82 090
Production (total coal, million tonnes, 1999) 304.0

Australia is endowed with substantial coal resources, with its proved recoverable reserves ranking fifth in the world. The major deposits of black coal (bituminous and sub-bituminous) are located in New South Wales and Queensland; smaller but locally important resources occur in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. The main deposits of brown coal are in Victoria, the only State producing this rank. Other brown coal resources are present in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

The proved amount of coal in place, reported for the present Survey by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO), comprises 62.2 billion tonnes of bituminous coal, 2.6 billion tonnes of sub-bituminous and 41.9 billion tonnes of brown coal/lignite. Within these tonnages, the proportion deemed to be recoverable ranges from 68% of the bituminous coal (with 48% of its reserves surface-mineable) to 90% of the lignite, all of which is suitable for open-cast mining. About one-third of Australia’s massive reserves of bituminous coal are of coking quality.

Indicated and inferred tonnages, additional to the proved amount in place, are vast: AGSO’s current assessment puts bituminous coal at 125 billion tonnes, sub-bituminous at nearly 28 billion tonnes and lignite at around 175 billion tonnes. In total, more than 250 billion tonnes of this additional coal is considered to be eventually recoverable.

In 1999 Australia produced 238 million tonnes of saleable black coal and 66 million tonnes of brown coal. The major domestic market for black coal is electricity generation: in 1998, power stations accounted for 81% of total black coal consumption, with the other large consumers being the iron and steel industry and cement manufacture. Brown coal is used almost entirely for power generation.

Australia has been the world’s largest exporter of hard coal since 1984: in 1999, it exported 172 million tonnes. About 54% of 1999 exports were of metallurgical grade (coking coal), destined largely for Japan, the Republic of Korea and Europe.

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