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Westside Mine interburden used to manufacture tiles

A waste product at Westside open-cut coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, is being transformed into a valuable commodity, thanks to the ingenuity of the Xstrata Coal team. Westside Mine Operations Manager Neil Rae said the mine was supplying a local ceramic tile plant with around 16,000 tonnes of structural clay each year, sourced from an area of weathered rock on site known as 'Awaba Tuff'.

"This type of weathered interburden is normally treated as waste by open-cut coal mines, but we-ve been able to find an alternative use for it," he said.

"We are currently supplying 16,000 tonnes of clay and future expansion of the ceramic plant could require us to increase supply.

"One of the advantages of using a by-product clay is that it reduces the total quantity of mining required to meet market demand, and that's good for the environment, due to savings in energy use."

Neil said the excess interburden was used for mine rehabilitation, to fill the mine void.

In January 2003, Westside Mine obtained development consent (as part of the approval of the Southern Extension) to mine up to 50,000 tonnes of interburden, and began supplying structural clay to the ceramic tile plant in Rutherford in June 2004.