$11M contract to strip rock overburden

Press, 26 November 1982, Page 3

$11M contract to strip rock overburden

Parliamentary reporter

A Cromwell firm has been awarded a three-year contract to strip rock overburden from $3O million worth of West Coast coking coal. The contract was awarded by the Government last evening to L. D. and D. W. Collis for $ll.l million. The stripping will expose 450,000 tonnes of high-value coking coal for export, now worth well over $3O million,

said the Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, yesterday. About 2.2 million cubic metres of rock will have to come off. The site is the Webb opencast mine on the Stockton plateau north of Westport. “This high-value, low-ash bituminous coal has particularly good coking qualities and is suitable for blending with other lower-grade cok-' ing coals for use in the steelmaking industry,” said Mr Birch. The Cromwell firm is expected to start work before Christmas. Mr Birch said that 300 men were engaged in mining in the Buller region. Without coal exports it would be difficult to maintain this employment level. Studies were continuing on the planned slurry pipeline at Ngakawau to test the technology. In the meantime coal would be railed to Lyttelton for export, Mr Birch said.