Giles Creek mine

This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

This article is part of the collection of articles on coal projects in New Zealand, which has been developed in conjunction with Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA). See CANA's Twitter feed and Facebook page. For information on how to get involved in adding material to CoalSwarm see here.

This article is part of the CoalSwarm coverage of New Zealand and coal.
Sub-articles:
Proposed coal mines Existing coal mines Coal export terminals Existing coal fired power stations Coal companies and agencies Solid Energy Solid Energy coal mines Solid Energy coal processing plants Potential Solid Energy coal projects Bathurst Resources Bathurst Resources coal projects L&M Group L&M coal exploration projects L&M Energy Mokau South Resources Mokau South Resources coal exploration projects Directors of New Zealand coal companies Power companies and agencies Coal Activist Videos: New Zealand Coal transport accidents in New Zealand
Related articles:
Global use and production of coal International Information on Coal

The Giles Creek mine is an opencast sub-bituminous coal mine in the Giles Creek Valley near Reefton on the West Coast of the South Island. The mine is owned by Birchfield Coal.

Loading map...

{"type":"SATELLITE","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"400px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"wmsoverlay":false,"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":14,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"markercluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","enablefullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":-42.036799,"lon":171.799021,"icon":""}]}

Background

Location: Giles Creek Valley near Reefton on the West Coast of the South Island. Some or all of the 235 ha mine is on Department of Conservation land.
Coordinates: -42.036799,171.799021
Coal field: Inangahua
Background: Started production in 1984
Current owner: Birchfield Coal
Status: Operating
Production capacity: 500,000 tonnes/year
Estimated recoverable reserves: 16 million tonnes
Mining technique: Opencast. Shallow deposit exposed by removal of top soil. Coal removed by hydraulic diggers, screened and washed.
Type of coal: Sub-bituminous, clean burning, low in sulfur
Solid fuel calorific value (gross) 19.04 MJ/kg (Range for NZ coal 15.25–31.95 MJ/kg)
Market information: Supplies the industrial, service and primary production sectors in Canterbury, Nelson and the West Coast. May be used as a blend with faster burning, higher heat value coals.
Environmental and/or health & safety issues: The company states that, “After the coal has been extracted the area is levelled and planted in native living forest.”

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Resources

• New Zealand and coal
• New Zealand Mining Industry Association
• Solid Energy