Pembroke Resources opens Olive Downs Complex for steelmaking coal

Expected to deliver $80bn in royalties over almost eight-decades, the Olive Downs Mine will pump out six million tonnes of coal every year, rising to as much as 20 million.

Pembroke Resources officially opened the Olive Downs Complex, which will produce steelmaking coal for the next seven decades.

Pembroke Resources has officially opened its $1bn Olive Downs Complex coking coal mine in the Bowen Basin.

Located 75 minutes’ drive south of Moranbah, the mine began production in mid-2023 and shipped its first coal to international customers in January this year.

Pembroke spent more than $60 million on regional suppliers during the construction stage which created 700 new jobs with a further 600 jobs created in the first stage of operation.

Resources and Critical Minerals Minister Scott Stewart said it was “great” to officially open the mine — which is expected to generate more $10bn in royalties over its 80 year lifespan — after the first sod was turned two years ago.

Pembroke Resources officially opened the Olive Downs Complex, which will produce steelmaking coal for the next seven decades.

“As a government, we will always support projects that stack up environmentally, socially and financially and Olives Downs ticks all those boxes,” Mr Stewart said as he joined Pembroke employees and their families for the celebrations.

“I want to congratulate Pembroke Resources and acknowledge that by building this mine they are backing Queensland’s resources sector for decades to come.”

Pembroke Resources chairman and CEO Barry Tudor said demand for steelmaking coal remained “very strong” with the company focused on expanding Olive Downs to “double production as soon as possible”.

Barry Tudor, Chairman and CEO of Pembroke Resources

Mr Tudor said they were committed to giving employees a choice of whether to live near the mine and they would continue to partner with the state government and the local community to “create sustainable and long-term economic opportunity”.

He said they designed the mine with an aim to be world leaders in environmental protection, sustainability and on-site technology.

“(It) was the first mine to be approved under the Strong and Sustainable Communities Resources Communities Act, the first to build an integrated campus, the first with a three-phase vegetation clearing protocol, and the first steelmaking coal mine in the world to implement CAT Command autonomous control for trucks and drills at the same site,” Mr Tudor said.

It has a dedicated Koala and Greater Glider Clinic with wildlife veterinarians and ecologists, employs specially-trained “spotter catchers” and uses drones and elevated work platforms to help research, preserve and protect endangered species around the Olive Downs mine.

Also joining the official opening of the mine were Capricornia MP Michelle Landry, Senator Matthew Canavan, Resources opposition spokeswoman Susan McDonald and opposition Natural Resources and Mines spokesman Dale Last.