Invincible Colliery
Shoalhaven Coal Pty Ltd owns the Invincible Colliery, an open cut coal mine located approximately 25 kilometres (km) north-west of Lithgow in New South Wales (NSW). Invincible Colliery is operated by Castlereagh Coal a wholly owned subsidiary of Shoalhaven Coal Pty Ltd.
Operations at Invincible Colliery were suspended and placed in care and maintenance in April 2013 as known coal reserve within the approved mining area were exhausted and a project modification by former owners Coalpac Pty Ltd to allow further mining was rejected. As a result, administrators were appointed in October
2013, and Coalpac Pty Ltd was placed into voluntary liquidation in November 2014. Invincible Colliery and the nearby Cullen Valley Mine were subsequently purchased by Shoalhaven Coal Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of the
Manildra Group) in 2015 to secure the supply of nut coal for Manildra’s Shoalhaven Starches Plant located at Bomaderry on the NSW South Coast.
Subsequently Shoalhaven Coal sought a modification to the Invincible Colliery Project Approval in accordance with Section 75W of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The modification proposed an extension to open cut mining operations to the south of the existing approved mining domain into an area known as the Southern Extension. Following public exhibition between 27 September and 8 November 2016, the modification was approved by the NSW Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) on 5 February 2018, refer to Section 3.1.
In November 2021 Shoalhaven Coal Pty Ltd was sold via a 100% share transaction to an all-Australian locally based ownership team who continued to operate the Colliery under a care and maintenance arrangements until
July 2023 when mining commenced in the Southern Extension area.
Invincible Colliery is located in an area of historical mining operations associated with western coalfields of NSW, including the former mining operations at Cullen Valley Mine, Baal Bone Colliery, Pine Dale and Ivanhoe
Colliery. The Invincible site has had a long history of mining operations commencing in 1901. Open cut mining has been carried out at Invincible Colliery at various times since the 1940s through to 2013 when operations
were placed in care and maintenance followed by recommencement of mining in 2023.
Cullen Valley Mine
Shoalhaven Coal Pty Ltd owns the Cullen Valley Mine (CVM), the open cut coal mine located approximately 30 kilometres (km) north-west of Lithgow in New South Wales (NSW). CVM is Operated by Castlereagh Coal a wholly owned subsidiary of Shoalhaven Coal Pty Ltd.
Underground mining commenced at CVM formerly Tyldesley Colliery around 1904 and continued up until the 1960s when the workings were abandoned. Open cut operations were conducted on the site between 1948 and 1953. Modern open cut operations began at CVM after 19 August 1999 when the Lithgow Coal Company was granted Mining Lease (ML) 1455 by the then Minister for Mineral Resources. Mining commenced on site in May 2000 following a four month construction phase.
Following the identification of additional open cut coal reserves, a further Environmental Assessment and Development Application was lodged for an extension of the mine in April 2003 (i.e. DA-200-5-2003). The lease extension area lies along the western side of Tyldesley Hill adjacent to the main western railway line. Approval of the Development Application was granted by the then Department of Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) on 19 August 2004.
CVM has previously supplied coal under contract to the Mount Piper Power Station. However, with the failure of the mine to secure a supply contract in 2007, it was proposed to place the operation on a care and maintenance program until such time as sufficient contracts were awarded that would make the operation of the mine viable once again. Coalpac Pty Ltd purchased the Lithgow Coal Company Pty Ltd, which owned the CVM, in January 2008 and the previous plans to place the mine on care and maintenance were discarded. Recommencement of the open cut mining operations occurred in February 2008. Mining of the available approved area at CVM was completed in early December 2012. Any remaining stockpiled ROM coal was transported to the Invincible Colliery during February 2013 and processed through the Invincible Coal Crushing Plant. The CVM was then placed under care and maintenance. Shoalhaven Coal purchased the mine from Coalpac’s administrators in May 2015. In November 2021 Shoalhaven Coal Pty Ltd was sold via a 100% share transaction to an all-Australian locally based ownership team who continued to operate the Colliery under a care and maintenance arrangements until mining was recommenced in May 2022 to retrieve remnant coal. Remnant mining was completed in December 2022 and the site has been in care and maintenance post this period.
Castlereagh Coal 