Sustainable partnership with Wollondilly Council
14 January 2025
Coal is right beneath your feet throughout the Tahmoor region and even closer than you think when it comes to many civil projects and recycling.
This will be even more evident now that Tahmoor Coking Coal has entered into a sustainable partnership with the Wollondilly Shire Council to use by-product material from the Coal Handling and Preparation Plant, free of charge, to pave civil projects in the area.
It is fantastic that we can support the local Council, and potentially other organisations in the Wollondilly Shire, with provision of material that is a by-product of our mining process
Tahmoor Executive General Manager Peter Vale
The first project to be completed using the by-product material was with Wollondilly Shire Council which used almost 20kt at the Bargo Waste Management Centre for a hardstand at its laydown area.
Tahmoor Coking Coal’s Environment Specialist, Tom O’Brien endorses the partnership with Council with hopes that it will be the first of a long-lasting initiative with council and local businesses in the area.
“The coal wash material excels in its use as a road base for bitumen, and it is a paramount environmental initiative where we have the opportunity to reuse the material on a large scale, avoiding disposal,” Tom said.
“There is space to expand this initiative in the future and we are looking forward to seeing what else we can do with it in the community.”
After the first project exceeded expectations, Wollondilly council approached the mine for a further 8kt as road base to de-bituminise the new Tahmoor Sports Complex and further highlights the diversity of coal.
Executive General Manager of the mine, Peter Vale, said he was looking forward to future project opportunities.
“It is fantastic that we can support the local Council, and potentially other organisations in the Wollondilly Shire, with provision of material that is a by-product of our mining process.”
After some promotion of the product, a neighbouring civil and materials transport business has requested access to the material for local and out of district civil projects in the future.
The community and Tahmoor more broadly benefit from this initiative with every 5000 tonnes moved off site giving the mine one day back of coal wash reject emplacement time, assisting the longevity of Tahmoor’s operation.
There is space to expand this initiative in the future and we are looking forward to seeing what else we can do with it in the community
Tahmoor Coking Coal Environment Specialist Tom O’Brien
Tahmoor Colliery is permitted to transport up to 200,000 tonnes of product by road annually as per the consent conditions, this includes coal washery output material.
The mine continues to meet the criteria of the Resource Recovery Order set by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in 2014 that requires output materials to be characterised and separated by sampling and analysis.
The characterisation process confirmed that Tahmoor’s coal washery material has sufficiently met the sampling criteria and contains very low naturally occurring impurities allowing it to be used in civil projects. This is a big step towards finding sustainable waste avoidance solutions for the material.
Main picture: The Tahmoor Sports Complex is upgraded using coal-wash added material.