Jellinbah Plains

Thiess commenced work at the Jellinbah Plains open-pit, part of the Jellinbah East coal mine near Blackwater in Central Queensland, in 2015.

Thiess undertook all mining operations at the Jellinbah Plains pit excluding drill and blast services until November 2020. The pit is configured as a terrace mining operation, with mining occurring in a northerly direction along the seam strike.

Thiess’ team of experience, technical specialists and site-based engineers, operators and maintainers, all played a major role in maximising resource recovery through low-cost terrace mining techniques.

They also introduced innovative load and haul solutions to ensure the project consistently delivered high-quality PCI bypass coal. By pioneering dewatering trenches to manage water inflow at the project, our team delivered our client the maximum product coal of 102.5 per cent every six months since contract inception.

Thiess was responsible for mining approximately 2.2 million tonnes of coal per year. 

Throughout the project’s lifetime, our Jellinbah Plains team consistently worked to deliver social benefits through local employment, training and community engagement, including:

• Volunteering with RACQ CQ Rescue to provide life-saving aeromedical and emergency helicopter rescue services across Central Queensland
• Working with the Hear and Say Foundation to deliver the Hear to Learn School Hearing program across three schools in the Blackwater region
• Donating furniture and actively supporting Blackwater and Emerald community organisations, including the Salvation Army, Lifeline and Anglicare
• Supporting STEM learning throughout the region through our involvement with the Queensland Mines and Energy Academy. This included donating STEM robotics kits to local schools.