home Established in 1993 as a joint venture among major international companies and their Australian subsidiaries, Ensham Resources Pty Limited is one of Queensland’s largest and fastest growing thermal coal producers. Ensham Resources produces around 7 million tonnes per annum of high energy low ash thermal coal. The coal is exported to leading energy producers in Japan, Korea, India and China and other countries. A major producer in its own right, the company aims to harness its considerable resources currently estimated at around one billion tonnes.
Location The Ensham project is a major open cut coal operation in the western Bowen Basin approximately 40 km northeast of the regional centre Emerald in the Central Queensland coalfields. Emerald is some 200 km west of Rockhampton. The Bowen Basin is Queensland’s premier coal producing region, estimated to contain more than 70% of the state’s total coal reserves and accounting for approximately 85% of the state’s total coal exports. Ensham has vast resources totalling 1 billion tonnes of mostly high energy, low ash thermal coal.	click to enlarge
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Contact us

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Recruitment

Ensham Resources is Queensland’s third largest thermal coal producer and is planning a proposed underground mine.

As a result, Ensham offers a wide range of career opportunities for a broad range of professionals, skilled and semi-skilled workers. These include - but are not restricted to - positions for electrical, fitter and mechanical tradespeople, machinery operators, mining engineers, environmentalists, accountants and geologists.

In addition to placing experienced workers, Ensham provides a number of direct traineeships, apprenticeships and a graduate trainee scheme to place graduates and a limited number of school leavers.

It is also part of a local working party to attract skilled people to the region, offers scholarships to talented individuals interesting in a mining career and helps local schools obtain industry exposure for their students to help them plan their future studies and career goals.

Current Positions

Graduate Mining Engineer

Medium Term Planning Specialist

Please Note: We are not currently hiring - No vacancies for equipment operators.
 

International Backing

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The operator of the mine, Ensham Resources Pty Limited, together with the company’s marketing arm, Ensham Coal Sales are based in Brisbane.  Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty Ltd and its Australian subsidiary, Bligh Coal Limited which together own 85% of the joint venture, J-Power Australia Pty Ltd which holds a (10%) share and LG International (Australia) Pty Ltd which makes up the remaining 5% of the joint venture.

Idemitsu is one of the world’s largest privately owned energy companies with major investments in oil refineries and petroleum products, primarily in Japan. J-Power (formerly Electric Power Development Corporation – EPDC) is one of Japan’s largest power utilities. LG International is one of Korea’s largest diversified conglomerates with interests in a vast array of international businesses including electronics. Bligh Coal is a 100% subsidiary of Idemitsu.

This joint venture arrangement helps provide Ensham with ready access and long term contracts with end-users in some of the world’s most important thermal coal markets.

Production

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As of 2010, Ensham employs Ensham employees and contractors to produce around 7 million tonnes per annum of high energy thermal coal.
 

Track Record

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In its relatively short history, Ensham has developed a solid reputation as a highly productive operation noted for best practice in Health and Safety.

Ensham is also a valued member of the local community and is a keen supporter of regional and community development through its participation in a range of industry initiatives and as a member of the Queensland Resources Council.

Infrastructure

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Ensham has its own modern infrastructure for coal handling and loading and has in place the necessary contracts with Queensland Rail and the Central Queensland Ports Authority to transport its coal to the nearest port at Gladstone and direct to end user customers within Queensland.

The majority of Ensham’s product is exported to overseas power stations and steel mills where it has strong relationships through its joint venture partners. The company also sells limited quantities of thermal coal to Queensland power stations.

The process of delivering coal to customers, and the required infrastructure, is as follows:

Coal Handling and Loading Facility: Ensham’s coal handling facility crushes the raw coal and sorts coal into specific size fractions required by customers, using a series of vibrating sizing screens. Each coal product type is then stockpiled using Ensham’s three 45,000 tonne stockpiles. Coal is reclaimed for loading onto trains using reclaim tunnels located beneath the stockpiles, and is transported to the Rail Loadout using 4,000 tonne per hour conveyors. Coal is then loaded onto trains from the Rail Loadout using a 500 tonne overhead bin.

Railing of Coal: Trains of approximately 7,000 tonnes capacity arrive at the Ensham site using a 15km dedicated spur line and balloon loop. Trains loaded with export coal then travel 339km to the Port of Gladstone, while domestic products are railed to unloading facilities within the power station customers’ facilities.

Exporting Coal: Coal which is unloaded at the Port of Gladstone is stored in a series of dedicated Ensham stockpiles, and reclaimed in specific proportions in order to produce a variety of product blends. Coal is then loaded and exported using vessels of up to 160,000 tonnes capacity.
 

Ensham’s Contribution to Infrastructure and State revenue:

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Annual payments to Queensland Rail and the Central Queensland Ports Authority are in the order of $100 million per annum at current production rates. This is in addition to the substantial royalty income earned by the State on Ensham’s coal sales.