Inspections begin on fire-stricken Grosvenor mine ahead of full re-entry
A Queensland Mines Rescue Service team took the first steps into Anglo American's Grosvenor mine on Wednesday, wearing protective equipment and respirators to carry out "preliminary reconnaissance inspections".
The mine was evacuated and sealed after methane gas ignited, creating an underground inferno on June 29 last year.
Black plumes of smoke blanketed the nearby town of Moranbah, where residents were told to stay indoors and keep windows shut.
A similar explosion at the same mine in 2020 seriously injured five workers.
The brief reopening of the mine follows approval by the industry regulator.
The Mining and Energy Union has also lifted its ban on entry.
Anglo American said it finished safety preparations last week.
That included the unsealing of mine shafts, which were first closed last year to starve the underground blaze of oxygen.
Mine general manager Shane McDowall said the first re-entry was a "significant milestone."
Mr McDowall said staff would re-enter the mine once safety inspections were finished, but mining would not restart for some time.
"Our crews have stepped up in amazing ways — solving problems, adapting technology in innovative ways, and rethinking how we do things underground," he said in a statement.
Mining and Energy Union industry safety and health representative Jason Hill said while some sites had recovered from similar levels of damage, no-one on the ground believed mining would restart at Grosvenor any time soon.
"There's nothing to say it can't return into a full production. It's just a matter of identifying what happened," he said.
Mr Hill said one of the hazards would be the lining around mine shaft, which had deteriorated in the fire, damaging the surrounding structure.
"It's a matter of monitoring and ensuring that there were no issues that were going to pop up," he said.
Mining is also on hold at a neighbouring Anglo American mine, which was also damaged by an underground fire last year.
The Moranbah North mine was first evacuated in April 2024, after reports of a dangerous carbon monoxide leak that was later confirmed as an explosion and fire.
Nobody was injured in the incident.
Anglo American chief executive officer Duncan Wanblad told investors this month it was costing $55 million a month to pay staff and maintain operations at both Grosvenor and Moranbah North.
He said the company planned to restart operations at Grosvenor "later this year", with Moranbah North to follow in 2026.
In November 2024, Peabody Energy entered a $5.7 billion deal to buy Anglo American's four steel-making coal mines in Queensland, including the two that remained out of action.
But the restarting of longwall mining at Grosvenor was a condition of the final sale price.
Mr Wanblad told investors he believed both companies still wanted the deal to go ahead.
However, Peabody described the explosion at Moranbah North as a "Material Adverse Change" to the deal, saying it would provide an update on its position later this month.
Mr Wanblad said any decision to go ahead with the purchase would "ultimately be a Peabody decision".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
6 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Named: Every bank that's slashed rates to under 5pc
Eighteen Australian lenders have slashed interest rates below 5 per cent ahead of the Reserve Bank's expected big move on Tuesday. Comparison firm Canstar's database to August 8 showed 18 lenders had at least one fixed rate sitting under 5 per cent now, and one also had a variable rate at that level - Police Credit Union. The list below is based on personal home loans for any loan amount, any LVR, and both principal & interest and interest only payments, and excludes introductory, green only and first home buyer only home loans. Lenders with lowest fixed rates under 5 per cent: Rank Lender Lowest advertised rate Term 1 BOQ 4.89% 2 years 2 Greater Bank 4.94% 3 years 3 The Mutual Bank 4.94% 3 years 4 Easy Street Fin Services 4.95% 2 years 5 Regional Australia Bank 4.98% 2 years 6 BankVic 4.98% 3 years 7 Pacific Mortgage Group 4.99% 2 years 8 Hume Group 4.99% 3 years 9 Macquarie Group 4.99% 2 years 10 Police Bank 4.99% 3 years SOURCE: Canstar data insights director Sally Tindall said Bank Australia is currently offering a lowest fixed rate of 4.59 per cent for 3 years, but it was strictly for new builds with a NatHERS 7.5 star rating or higher​, all electric and rooftop solar, and the home must have been built within the last 18 months. 'The question is, which bank will be next to trump them, in a bidding war that's slowly but surely pushing fixed rates south,' Mr Tindall said. 'Fixed rates starting with a '4' are now a firm fixture in the lowest rate tables with 18 lenders now in the under 5 per cent club.' She said if the Reserve Bank puts in a 0.25pp cut Tuesday, 'owner-occupiers paying down their debt should not be on a rate that's over 5.50 per cent'. 'In fact, if the majority of banks pass the cut on in full, which they should absolutely do, then there should be over 30 lenders offering at least one variable rate under 5.25 per cent, while CBA and Westpac's lowest rates could hit 5.34 per cent.' If the RBA cuts the cash rate to 3.60 per cent on Tuesday, an owner-occupier with a $600,000 debt today, and 25 years remaining on their loan, could see their monthly repayments drop by $90, assuming the banks pass it on in full to existing variable rate borrowers, Ms Tindall said.
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Zeekr announces $57,900 Model Y rival, plans charging network rollout
Chinese EV maker Zeekr has announced a bold move that could undermine Tesla's hold on the Australian market. Many vehicles in Australia are capable of ultra-fast charging; however, their ability is limited in practice due to underdeveloped EV infrastructure. Yes, Tesla does offer Superchargers, but this infrastructure is often exclusive to Tesla owners. For other EV drivers, there are limited public EVs that support truly rapid charging. In New South Wales, if you exclude Tesla-exclusive chargers, there are approximately a dozen stations capable of 350kWh or higher charging that are available to the public. Currently, there are 93,078 registered electric vehicles in the State, according to Transport NSW. This equates to thousands of electric vehicles for every 350kW charger in New South Wales. Zeekr views this as an opportunity to bring their ultra-fast 800V charging stations to Australia, which has already seen immense success in China. 2025 Zeekr 7X. Picture: Supplied MORE: Australia to miss out on lifesaving tech Zeekr Vice President Frank Li says the company is 'seriously considering' building a network of ultra-fast chargers around Australia to accommodate the growing need of their customers. 'We're seriously considering this to support our 800V vehicles. Fast, reliable charging is essential to the Zeekr experience, and we're working on solutions that deliver real value to our customers,' Mr Li says. The company plans to launch a massive charging network as part of its ambitious strategy for the Australian market, following the recent introduction of the Zeekr 7X, which is the company's first vehicle to feature an 800V platform in Australia. Zeekr's mid-sized SUV competes directly with other popular models, such as the Tesla Model Y, BYD Sealion 7, and various other electric SUVs. 2025 Zeekr 7X. Picture: Supplied The 2025 Zeekr 7X starts at $57,900 before on-road costs (around $64,000 drive-away), with the flagship Performance AWD variant priced at $72,900. That positions the 7X about $1000 cheaper than the Tesla Model Y, though slightly more expensive than the BYD Sealion 7. Zeekr says the price for the 7X, which joins the Zeekr X (a small SUV) and the Zeekr 009 (a luxury people mover) in the brand's expanding Australian line-up, remains competitive in the country's growing market. 'This was intended to bring the Zeekr brand to more Australian homes. With so much to offer, we really feel this is incredible value,' Mr Li said. 'We justify our price positioning by delivering long-term value and a tech-forward ownership experience tailored to discerning Australian drivers.' The 7X range comprises three main variants: the RWD (standard range), RWD long-range, and 7X Performance AWD. MORE: 'Jet on wheels': Luxury van's insane cost 2025 Zeekr 7X. Picture: Supplied The RWD model features Zeekr's 75kWh (LFP) 'Golden Battery' technology, which enables rapid charging from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in just 13 minutes. This model also comes standard with height-adjustable air suspension, heated front seats, 19-inch alloy wheels, a panoramic sunroof (with electric sunshade), and interior ambient lighting. According to the EV brand, this variant is capable of a claimed 0-100km/h sprint in around 6.0 seconds. Next in line is the 7X RWD long-range model, which features similar characteristics to the RWD model but offers a larger 100 kWh battery. Despite the increased battery capacity, performance remains unchanged compared to the standard RWD model. The top-spec model of the Zeekr 7X range is the Performance AWD, which delivers the best performance figures in the line-up and shares its battery with the Long Range RWD variant. It is equipped with the same 100 kWh battery found in the long-range model but uses twin electric motors, enabling a 0-100 km/h acceleration in just 3.8 seconds. MORE: Huge lane marking change to Aussie roads 2025 Zeekr 7X. Picture: Supplied 2025 Zeekr 7X. Picture: Supplied The EV brand aims to sell over 2,000 electric vehicles in 2025, and according to Melvyn Low, Zeekr's Head of Product, the 7X plays a crucial role in the brand's achievement of this milestone. 'Our insights into Australian consumers reveal a strong appetite for EVs that combine practicality, performance, and premium design — without the compromises often seen in legacy models,' Melvyn said. 'The 7X reflects this understanding, offering a purpose-built electric SUV tailored to local driving conditions and lifestyle needs, with the space, tech, and refinement modern drivers expect. 'With performance at its core and continuous evolution through OTA updates, the 7X redefines what it means to drive premium.' Read related topics: China Ties James Chung Digital Content Creator James is a Digital Content Creator at and is part of the News Corp Australia's digital real estate team. His previous experience includes working for Sky News Australia.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Why won't Musk let Tesla EVs power homes?
Sam Hawley: It's an idea Elon Musk hasn't fully embraced just yet, and he doesn't want Teslas used for it. Some electric vehicles are already being plugged in to provide power to homes and even to the grid. Today, energy reporter, Dan Mercer, on the revolutionary technology and why the world's richest man is wary of it. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Dan, this idea that electric cars could power our homes is fascinating, really. So I just want you to explain this for us. And to do that, it's good to talk about a guy called Richard Chapman. He is a petrol head, or we call them rev heads, I think. Dan Mercer: Yeah, indeed. He's an English fella, Sam, and he lives in the port city of Fremantle in Perth in Western Australia. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: Absolutely adored cars ever since I knew what a car was. Dan Mercer: He says he's always loved his muscle cars, but he's also not the discriminating sort. He loves electric vehicles too. Sam Hawley: Yeah, he's the sort of, in my head, he's the sort of person you don't associate with an electric car. Dan Mercer: No, but you know, it's kind of funny. He loves Top Gear, he loves the smell of petrol, he loves a car that makes a lot of noise. He equally loves these things, which are sort of the polar opposite of cars. The opposite of that in many ways. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: I never thought I'd quite embrace the EV thing so fully, but for me now, and I've still got a three litre V6 sports car but I look at that as like a horse. Like it's expensive, it's loud, it's very inefficient. It actually doesn't go as quick as the EVs, but that's more about sort of the emotion and real passion of something like a horse. Dan Mercer: There's this popular conception that tends to have these two things in completely separate camps. But Richard really does swear by his EVs. He reckons they're just phenomenal to drive and the technology behind them is mind blowing. Yeah, the measure of it in his case is that he has three EVs, Sam. Sam Hawley: It sounds like a lot. All right, and he is, Dan, really well set up for charging all of these EVs that he has. Dan Mercer: He is. He's one of these guys who just loves getting things to work really well, taking them apart and building them back together again so he understands them intimately. So in his instance, he's got a lot of solar on his roof. He's got batteries in his house and he's got tariffs that are really cheap in the middle of the day when there's heaps of renewable energy sloshing around the grid. What he does is he tries to charge the cars during those daylight hours. That way the energy that's powering the cars is dirt cheap. Either it's coming straight from his solar panels or it's coming from the grid during a time when prices are at their lowest. And for the most part, it seems to work. Sam Hawley: Yeah, okay. So he also likes to have his cars basically fully charged most of the time. And while they're just sitting there at night and not being used, he would actually like to use some of their power, right? But not for driving around. Dan Mercer: Not for driving, no. He's got a couple of batteries fixed to the wall of his garage as flagged. He can get by most of the time fairly cheaply. There are occasions though when his solar and those batteries aren't enough. And that tends to be in winter and the shoulder seasons when there might not be that much sun around but his demand for power might be quite high. And there are times too in summer when he reckons he just needs that much power because it's so hot and he has to run the air conditioning around the clock and the batteries aren't enough. At those times, he currently has to buy the power from the grid in the evening when prices unfortunately cost a fortune. Needless to say, that's something he's pretty keen to avoid. And he says the answer to those problems should be right there in front of him in the form of the energy that's stored in his EV's batteries. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: When the main house batteries have run out, I wanna then be able to draw off of the electric vehicles that I've got hundreds of kilowatt hours sitting there and I wanna be able to use that back again. Sam Hawley: Wow, yeah. So using the car's batteries to power his home. And the EV batteries, they're massive, aren't they? So that is a possibility, isn't it? Dan Mercer: They are huge batteries, yeah. I mean, an average household battery is probably around 10 kilowatt hours of storage. A big EV battery can be 80 kilowatt hours or more. And as Richard notes, if you've got a car with a battery with that much power, even thereabouts, that's enough to run a typical household for days at a time. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: You could run your house for, God, completely off grid for probably a fortnight on that. Sam Hawley: Wow, okay. So it sounds like a great idea. Why doesn't he just do it? Dan Mercer: Basically because his carmaker won't let him. There are other reasons, but the biggest one is that his carmaker won't let him. Richard has a couple of Teslas and Tesla just doesn't, at this stage in Australia at least, support customers using their cars to run their homes. It's not the only business that's going on. There's a big EV brand that's cool on the idea, but it's arguably the biggest name. Richard told me, there are ways he can hook his car slash cars up to his house. The problem is those ways aren't legally kosher. So if you do it, you void the warranty on your car. And if your EV costs $100,000, say, you're just not gonna do it. Sam Hawley: So why, just explain further then, Dan, why it is that Tesla doesn't want it to happen. Dan Mercer: Yeah, look, to be fair to Tesla, there are legitimate reasons why the company might be reticent. For starters, it's a fledgling technology we're talking about. It seems to lack a broadly accepted industry standard. Then there's just the physical reality of it. If you're discharging and charging your EV battery a whole lot more than you would normally do, a lot more because you're using it as a quasi household system, then that has an effect on the longevity of the battery. Most batteries, including the ones typically used in EVs, degrade over time as they're used more and more. And so Tesla doesn't want to be held liable for a warranty if the battery is being cycled in a way that wasn't envisaged, that wasn't tested, that wasn't guaranteed by their own standards. There are suspicions though that maybe Tesla has ulterior motives. The company famously sells household batteries and consumers are much less likely to buy those household batteries if their car battery can do the same thing. The thing is, Sam, this argy-bargy has big implications because some people reckon the technology in question could change the energy system completely. It has a few different names, including bidirectional charging, two-way charging, reverse charging, vehicle to grid and others. Ultimately though, it boils down to a simple proposition, not only charging EVs so they can be driven around, but discharging them too. Sam Hawley: All right, well then let's now, Dan, step through how this actually works because there are three main ways of using a car's battery for power, for powering a home, for instance. So let's run through those. Dan Mercer: Yeah, indeed. Well, and apologies for this next bit because it's all quite jargony. Sam Hawley: All right, we've been warned. Go forth. Dan Mercer: The first is what's called vehicle to load or V2L. And that's simply using your car to run things like tools from a power outlet in the car. At a high level, there's so-called vehicle to home or V2H, which is where you use the battery in your EV to run your house. That's what Richard wants to do. And there's evidence some people are already doing it in Australia, for example, during blackouts. And then there's the biggest one of all, which is called vehicle to grid. As the name suggests, it involves selling electricity from your car's battery to the grid at times when it's needed. A flip side to that is not only just selling it, but you can also store electricity in the car's battery, take it from the grid when there's too much supply, which of course is a problem that we're dealing with these days with so much solar around. Vehicle to home and vehicle to grid, especially are not straightforward. And there's a mix of hardware, software and regulatory permissions that are required to turn the energy that's stored in the car battery into something that can be put into the grid and used safely. So there's a whole bunch of technical challenges involved. Sam Hawley: But if you could transfer the power from your EV to the grid, you could make money from that, right? Dan Mercer: You could. How much? There's a big question mark. Presumably there'd need to be strong financial incentives for you to wanna do it. But ultimately this is kind of about trying to entice you to provide energy from your EV to the system when the system needs it. You might reasonably wonder what possible difference a few EVs could make to something as big as the grid, right? But eventually there will be millions of EVs on our roads and collectively they'll represent an enormous amount of storage that sits idle most of the time. Being able to tap into that in an efficient way could drastically reduce our need to generate electricity from sources like coal and like gas. Sam Hawley: Okay, and there are some people that think this could be revolutionary. Dan Mercer: In theory, yes. I spoke to Ross De Rango who used to run energy and infrastructure at the Electric Vehicle Council, which is an industry body. He now works as a consultant and Ross says there's, in his words, a big golden pot at the end of the rainbow if Australia can make bidirectional charging work. Ross De Rango, EV industry consultant: So the opportunity is the earlier closure of coal and gas-fired power stations. The opportunity is lower cost electricity for all consumers in the country. The risk of absence of support for this technology is that those benefits will take many more years to materialise. Sam Hawley: All right, well, Dan, this does all sound pretty amazing actually, but as you mentioned, there are car companies like Tesla that aren't playing ball at the moment. I think a few are, but there's a few roadblocks here. Dan Mercer: I'll be fascinated to see what happens with two-way charging, Sam. Ross De Rango, the ex-EV Council guy, says governments will need to take the reins and corral automakers in particular into a position of support for this. Ditto for the poles and wires companies that control the grid. Ross De Rango, EV industry consultant: So the automakers hold one set of keys, the energy networks hold the other set of keys. In order for vehicle to grid to occur, both of those parties need to put the key in the ignition and turn it on. Dan Mercer: We spoke to Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, for this story, and he's certainly keen to see it happen. He was very keen to stress that he would like to see car makers get on board. Chris Bowen, Energy minister: Well, I certainly encourage car manufacturers to get with the programme. Consumers will want this, and I think consumers will march with their feet. If every car in Australia was electric and people were using it to charge their house or their grid, that's equivalent to five snowy hydro schemes, for example. And it's great for consumers because, as I said, it puts consumers more in charge of their resources. The battery in your driveway will, on average, usually be about five times more powerful than the battery in your garage. Sam Hawley: So, Dan, how long do you think it will take before our cars are powering our homes? Dan Mercer: This is a classic example of an idea where there's a disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality. You know, I've been reporting on energy for a while now, and it always amazes me how often I hear people say bidirectional charging is going to solve so many of our problems, and it's a no-brainer, so it's just going to happen, wait and see. But that's a big assumption, and there are big assumptions right through energy and the transition we're going through right now. Of course, there are many seemingly great ideas that never come to fruition in energy and elsewhere because they get mugged by reality. If you listen to the likes of Ross De Rango and Chris Bowen, this is a revolution that's coming. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. It's just a matter of when. Others aren't convinced. They're just not convinced. Apart from the vested interests of some of these car makers, it's hard to imagine electricity retailers, for example, jumping out of their skins at the idea. Why would they want to pave the way for anything that involves them selling less electricity to you? While those poles and wires companies, they move notoriously slowly. They're heavily regulated. They are heavily bureaucratic. One way or another, there is a tidal wave of new storage that's coming to Australia as battery prices fall and as we get deeper into this transition. And a lot of that is going to be in the cars we drive, for sure. If we can figure out a way of tapping into that fairly and efficiently, then, in theory, everybody wins. Just don't know if you should hold your breath waiting for it, though. Sam Hawley: Dan Mercer is the ABC's energy reporter. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead and Sam Dunn. Audio production by Cinnamon Nippard. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
