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    Blackwater mine reserve boost: planning and capex implications for engineers

    December 16, 2025|

    Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

    Blackwater mine reserve boost: planning and capex implications for engineers

    First reported on Australian Mining

    30 Second Briefing

    A more than 90 per cent increase in recoverable coal reserves at the Blackwater mine in Queensland has significantly extended Whitehaven Coal’s production horizon following its acquisition of the asset from BHP Mitsubishi Alliance and Mitsubishi Development. The enlarged JORC-compliant reserve base at this long-life open-cut operation, which feeds the Blackwater coal handling and preparation plant and uses rail links to the Port of Gladstone, gives Whitehaven greater flexibility in mine planning, strip sequencing and capital allocation across its metallurgical coal portfolio.

    Technical Brief

    • For similar brownfield mining assets, such reserve upgrades can defer replacement capex and port/rail re-contracting.

    Our Take

    A 90‑plus per cent uplift in recoverable coal reserves at Blackwater Mine materially extends asset life, which typically allows Australian operators like Whitehaven Coal to justify incremental debottlenecking and truck–shovel fleet renewal rather than greenfield spend.

    Coal is one of the more frequently appearing commodities in our mining coverage, and reserve upgrades of this scale in Australia tend to reinforce the position of established producers such as Whitehaven Coal in export contract negotiations with Asian utilities.

    Within the ‘Projects’ and ‘Contract Award’ tagged pieces, reserve step‑changes at existing Australian coal mines often precede new mine plan submissions and revised rehabilitation schedules, so regulators and local contractors around Blackwater should expect updated work scopes to flow through.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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