07-08-2025
Inspections begin on fire-stricken Grosvenor mine ahead of full re-entry
Inspectors have entered an underground coal mine in central Queensland for the first time since an explosion sent miners fleeing to the surface more than a year ago.
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".
