Miners sent back in as Cook Colliery revived in end to sad saga
The debacle that was the Cook Colliery in central Queensland and its sorry tale of lost jobs is finally coming to an end.
Constellation Mining, a subsidiary of Chris Wallin’s QCoal, has struck a deal with Mastermyne that will see the recommencement of mining at the site.
Wallin’s Constellation paid about $100 million last year to buy the assets of the collapsed Bounty Mining, which included the Cook Colliery where 170 jobs had been lost.
Mastermyne said today that it had been selected to operate Cook which will be restarted immediately.
The first stage would include restarting underground operations and transitioning back into production for the mine that has been on care and maintenance.
In parallel, Mastermyne and Constellation would finalise a mining services contract for the underground mine. A value of that contract has not yet been determined.
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Mastermyne said the new mining operations had been based on an assessment of the risks and opportunities.
“The parties are confident that a measured, low risk approach will deliver consistent results over the extended contract term,’’ the company said.
Chief executive Tony Caruso said both organisations had carefully considered the mining conditions and were confidently progressing the project.
The company’s measured comments are not surprising considering the issues faced by Cook’s previous owners Bounty Mining, which went into receivership in 2019 after its continuous miners were buried in rock falls and it lost production.
