Coal Preparation Plant
Many coal mines need to process their raw product before sale, to sort saleable coal from rock and other debris that comes with mining the raw material.
Pike River's $20 million coal preparation plant is currently the largest and most modern in New Zealand, incorporating the latest coal processing technology.
The plant operates 24 hours, seven days-a-week, and is designed to process up to 1.5 million tonnes a year of raw coal, using its conveyer system to create four coal stockpiles of up to 16,500 tonnes each.
Coal is crushed to a uniform 35 mm size and is collected by truck to be taken 22 kilometres to the new rail loadout facility at Ikamatua.
The total consented stockpile capacity is 90,000 tonnes.
Fourteen thousand cubic metres of water per day will be used to bring the coal down from the pit face by slurry pipe and the processing plant will clarify the water, returning most of it back up to the mine in a constant recycling process.
The plant was constructed by Brightwater-PEAT, a joint venture between Nelson-based Brightwater Engineering and an Australian design company.
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| Pike River's CPP at the foot of the Paparoa Ranges |