Hunter harvest/The seeds were planted in the infancy of the coal boom, and it is just now that a new crop of underground mines are beginning to harvest the fruits of their toil

摘要

This year has seen the growth of new underground coal mines in the Hunter Valley. Interestingly, the majority of the mines have been developed by juniors, which during the early stages of the coal boom saw the merit in the commodity and began exploring and developing their tenements. The new crop of juniors have also brought in foreign investors - all keen to shore up their coal supply for the years ahead. Investors, primarily steel corporations from Korea, are taking stakes in mines, or in one case going at it alone, effectively injecting millions of dollars into the Hunter region. One of the first to begin reaping the rewards of their foresight is Resource Pacific with its Newpac longwall mine, located 18km northwest of Singleton. The single mine producer has just begun to "unlock the substantial value" of its Newpac mine, according to managing director Paul Jury, with the company reporting a 5 million dollars after-tax profit for the 2007 financial year. Run of mine production from the Newpac longwall was 1.6 million tonnes, while revenue from coal sales reached 71.1 million dollars for the year.