OREANDA-NEWS. Japanese energy firm Idemitsu said today it has completed a project to expand the Boggabri coal mine in Australia, boosting output to 7mn t/yr for the next 20 years from the previous 5.6mn t/yr.

The expansion project that started in 2012 has added a new coal handling and preparation plant, a new train loading facility and products stockpile area. It has also helped to improve the quality of produced coal at the mine in New South Wales state.

The Boggabri thermal and semi-soft coking coal mine is 80pc owned by Idemitsu and 10pc each by Japanese power utility Chugoku Electric Power and steelmaker Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal (NSSMC). Idemitsu sold a 10pc stake to NSSMC in March this year ahead of the expansion completion.