<article><p class="lead">Australian coal firm Malabar Resources has awarded the access mining contract for its Maxwell underground coking and thermal coal mine in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales (NSW) to Australia-based Metarock subsidiary Pybar Mining Services.</p><p>Pybar expects to begin work on the access drifts to the Whynot coal seam in January-March next year and for the work to continue past the end of June. The first 3.5mn t/yr stage of the Maxwell underground mine will consist of board and pillar operations and a 145m wide longwall. Work will start on the second stage in late 2025 to expand the longwall to 300m and increase production to 5.5mn-6.5mn t/yr. </p><p>The Maxwell mine is on the site of the former Drayton thermal coal mine that <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1633792">Malabar bought from UK-South African mining firm Anglo American</a> in February 2018. The Drayton coal mine closed in late 2016.</p><p>Anglo American had proposed developing Drayton South, which is now the Maxwell underground coal project, but was rejected twice by the NSW Independent Planning Commission in November 2015 and February 2017. Malabar received approval for the project in December 2020.</p><p>The Maxwell project will be a mine with 75pc coking coal and 25pc thermal coal, of 124mn t of saleable coal production or 148mn t of run of mine, according to Malabar's environmental approval application. But the local Upper Hunter Council questioned this assumption, highlighting the high ash content of the semi-soft coking coal. The initial coal from the Whynot seam is suitable for low-ash export thermal coal markets, according to the NSW government's Division of Resources and Geoscience.</p><p>The Maxwell coal project is located near the Mount Arthur coal mine operated by Australian resources firm BHP. It is also near the Bengalla thermal coal mine, Mount Pleasant, Mangoola and the Hunter Valley coal mine operations complex, which are all key thermal coal exporting mines.</p><p>Malabar also owns the Spur Hill underground coal project, which is one of 19 fossil fuel projects <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2349463">caught up in an approval legal challenge</a>. </p><p><i>Argus</i> assessed high-grade 6,000 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal at $409.52/t fob Newcastle on 16 December, down from a peak of $444.59/t on 9 September. It assessed the semi-soft mid-vol price at $220.85/t fob Australia on 21 December, down from $227/t on 9 September. The unusual semi-soft discount to high-grade thermal coal price has caused most producers to switch to thermal.</p><p class="bylines">By Jo Clarke</p><p><div class="picture"><div><span class="pic_title">Australian coal price comparisons</span> <span class="units">($/t)</span></div><img src="https://argus-public-assets-us.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/12/22/australiancoalpricecomparisons22122022025012.jpg"></div></article>
