Waikato regional economic profile - Waikato Regional Council

Coal has been mined in the Waikatoregion since the late 1840s. By the1950s, production was over 1 milliontonnes a year, and now stands at over 2million tonnes a year.The coal output of the Waikato regionrepresented more than 38 per cent ofNew Zealand’s total output in 2010 177 ,and about 70 per cent of the coalproduced for domestic consumption. 178Major New Zealand coal fields areillustrated in figure 65.Figure 65: Coal production by field 176Most production is by opencast mining at the Rotowaro mine, which produces 1.0-1.3million tonnes a year. Approximately 5 million tonnes of recoverable coal remains.Approximately 70 per cent of Rotowaro’s coal is trucked to the Huntly West Mine siteand either transported by overland conveyor to Genesis Energy’s Huntly Power Stationor stockpiled for future use. About 25 per cent of the coal mined at Rotowaro is raileddirectly to New Zealand Steel’s mill at Glenbrook, near Auckland. A small proportion ofannual production is bagged for household use, although Solid Energy New ZealandLtd is progressively withdrawing from supplying the coal home heating market. 179The Huntly East Mine produces approximately 400,000 tonnes of coal and is the lastremaining underground mine in the North Island. 180 As at 2007, approximately 1 milliontonnes of recoverable coal were available for extraction in the licensed area and therewas a further 7 million tonnes of accessible coal in nearby areas. Approximately 95 percent of the coal produced at Huntly East Mine is railed directly to New Zealand Steel’smill at Glenbrook. 181Huntly sub-bituminous coal is also sought after by lime manufacturers, meat works,timber processing plants, and light industrial and horticultural businesses. 182A significant part of the remaining resource is more than 300 metres deep, but thereare also extensive resources at opencastable depth. The latter include coal beneaththe Huntly township, and the largest unworked block of opencastable coal left in theNorth Island, at Ohinewai in the Waikare Coalfield. 183Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd is investigating a technology that could allow NewZealand to recover coal from deep, difficult-to-mine coal deposits without digging itfrom the ground. Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) uses a chemical reaction toconvert coal into a gas hundreds of metres underground, then bring the gas to thesurface through a pipe. 184176Ministry of Economic Development (2012c, p. 34).177Ministry of Economic Development (2011e) Facts and figures.178Ministry of Economic Development (2011d) Coal resources: Waikato region.179Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd (2011b, p. 1-2).180Ministry of Economic Development (2011d) Coal resources: Waikato region.181Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd (2007, p. 1).182Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd (2011b, p. 2).183Ministry of Economic Development (2011d) Coal resources: Waikato region.184Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd (2010, p. 1).Page 60 Doc #: 2069885