PROJECTS AND INFRASTRUCTURE MAPS

Aurizon Network, a subsidiary of Aurizon Holdings Limited, operates the central Queensland coal rail network. Aurizon Holdings Limited also operates coal freight trains that run on the network.

The central Queensland coal network is declared for third-party access in accordance with the QCA Act.

The process for gaining access to the network is governed by Aurizon Network’s access undertaking, which is approved, from time to time, by the QCA.

Aurizon Network’s access undertaking applies to the five rail systems that comprise the central Queensland coal network:

• The Moura system links the Moura mine to Gladstone.
• The Blackwater system connects Gregory, Rolleston and Minerva to Gladstone, including part of the North Coast Line between Parana and Rocklands.
• The Goonyella system connects Gregory, North Goonyella and Blair Athol mine to the port of Hay Point.
• The Newlands system links Newlands to the port of Abbot Point, including the part of the North Coast Line between Durroburra and Kaili.​
• The Goonyella to Abbot Point (GAP) system is the railway infrastructure comprising the Northern Missing Link and part of any other system used by a train that uses or connects to the Northern Missing Link, except where the train originates or terminates south of Gregory.

Queensland is Australia’s and one of the world’s largest producers of lead (2nd), zinc (3rd), and bauxite (4th), and in Australia for silver (1st) and copper (2nd). The North West Queensland Mineral Province dominates base metal production and is a major gold and phosphate rock producer.

North Queensland produces bauxite and silica sand, and highly prospective for base metals, gold, tin and tungsten. Industrial minerals produced in Queensland include bentonite, kaolin and ceramic clays, diatomite, dimension stone, dolomite, feldspar, gypsum, limestone, lump silica, magnesite, mineral sands (rutile,
ilmenite and zircon), perlite, salt and zeolite.

To date, 84 projects by 57 companies have been completed with $6.74 million paid with 1 in 2 projects identifying mineralisation that increases both the inventory and investment attractiveness Queensland.

Significant opportunities still await with large unexplored potential within the sedimentary basins and basement beneath cover.

Discover more about Queensland’s significant minerals mines and projects within The Department of Natural Resources and Mines’ industry update,  which lists and maps out current mineral projects, including:

• significant mineral mines
• advanced base metals, other metals and gold and uranium projects
• new resources and mineral intersection maps

Queensland has a rich endowment of high-quality coal, with an inventory estimated in 2002, at approximately 34 billion tonnes (Bt) (raw in-situ), identified by government and industry exploration. At that time, metallurgical (coking and pulverised coal injection or PCI) coals accounted for approximately 8.7 Bt of the inventory, of which about 4 Bt were considered potentially suitable for open-cut mining. These estimates are currently being reviewed with an expectation that the State’s coal inventory will have increased significantly, resulting from the increased level of coal exploration activity by private enterprise that occurred in Queensland since 2002.

The Bowen Basin contains almost all of the State’s hard coking coal, and is the most important coal-bearing province in Queensland. In addition to supplying all of the metallurgical coal currently mined within Queensland, mines operating within the basin also produce a wide range of thermal coal products, principally for export.

Learn more in the Department of Natural Resources and Mines Queensland Coal- mines and advanced projects industry update, which provides detailed listings, charts and maps, including:

• new coal mines under construction or recently completed
• advanced export coal projects (Mining Lease either granted or under application)
• Queensland coal exports by type
• Queensland coal maps by region (Central Queensland, Western-central Queensland, South-east Queensland)
• operating mines

Queensland has sedimentary basins ranging in age from Precambrian to Tertiary with a variety of geological settings and histories.

In Queensland, the systematic exploration for conventional petroleum commenced in the early 1960s. Conventional petroleum exploration has resulted in the discovery of commercial accumulations in the Adavale Basin, the Bowen and Surat basins, and the Cooper and Eromanga basins.

Exploration for coal seam gas (CSG) commenced in the 1980s. Since the mid-1990s, CSG has grown to become the dominant source of gas in Queensland, comprising over 95% of the gas produced and over 99% of the remaining proved and probable gas reserves. Commercial production of CSG is sourced from the
Bowen and Surat basins and is the gas supply for the state’s export liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry based in Gladstone.

Outside of the producing CSG and key petroleum basins, many areas of the state remain largely under-explored.

Read more about the petroleum and coal seam gas industry in the Department of Natural Resources and Mines’ industry report, which details:

• Queensland petroleum location map
• Annual Queensland conventional petroleum and CSG wells drilled
• CSG well locations
• Queensland petroleum production summary
• Queensland petroleum 2P reserves
• Queensland CSG production
• Queensland CSG 2P reserves
• Queensland conventional gas and CSG annual production by basin
• Drilling exploration success rates by basin