According to Mining News Pro - The company has almost completed construction of the thermal coal project and has started using the majority of mine infrastructure.

It expects to complete further construction works on the coal handling preparation plant by the middle of this year.

Mach Energy managing director Ferdian Purnamasidi said construction of the initial bypass stage of the processing facility was now complete.

“Our first coal will be supplied locally for domestic use and we expect export sales to commence early in the New Year,” Purnamasidi said in December.

Mach Energy started railing coal at the mine in the final week of December. The milestone comes around two years after the company started construction at the site in late 2016.

The company, which was established to acquire the project from Rio Tinto, plans to develop Mount Pleasant into one of the leading thermal coal mines in Australia.

Mount Pleasant hosts resources of 1.1 billion tonnes of coal and 667 million tonnes of recoverable reserves.

The operation is being developed to reach a targeted production rate of 10.5 million tonnes per annum of run-of-mine (ROM) coal.