~ i l l a w a r r a c o a l ~
An Unofficial History of Coal Mining in the Illawarra

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Mt. Kembla mine
around 1901


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Avon Colliery

Avon Colliery commenced work on their first portal in the outcrop of the Wongawilli seam on Wednesday, 26th May, 1971, under Mine Manager, Roger Bancroft who later became the Deputy Chief Inspector of Mines (Technical) in Queensland.

Avon Colliery Transport PortalTaking delivery of their first continuous miner (1000 Volt Lee Norse 60H) on June 30th, 1971, the first saleable coal was delivered to the A.I & S on Tuesday, 24th August, 1971, by Heggies Transport.

Closure in April, 2000, due to the loss of markets, was rapid, portals sealed within days and the equipment being auctioned off on 25th May.

Avon's manager for the last 10 years or so was Rod Burston, having moved across from Huntley Colliery following it's closure in 1989.

Avon was the third in a series of Austen & Butta mines established in the Illawarra in the 1960s & 70s, viz. Dombarton, Yellow Rock & Avon with proposals for additional mines west of the escarpment prior to the downturn of the coking coal trade.

Avon Colliery Offices in the late 1970'sLocated approximately 6 km west of Dapto on the Illawarra escarpment at the Wongawilli seam outcrop between Huntley colliery to the south and Wongawilli Colliery to the north, Avon exported the majority of its coal as either coking or thermal coal after passing through its coal preparation plant located on site.

Coal production was by bord and pillar, in the latter years breaker- line supports being utilised during pillar extraction.

The Wongawilli seam had a working thickness of 3.1 m and produced 0.33 Mt of raw coal per annum (0.25 Mt saleable)

Transport was 22 km by road to Port Kembla Coal Loader.

Avon Colliery workshop in the late 1970'sThe 220 t/hr Coal Preparation Plant consisting of a Bradford Breaker, HM Cyclones with Spirals and Froth Flotation commenced operations in August 1972 (requiring till December of that year to fine tune) with a clean coal stockpile capacity of 300,000 tonnes.

Just prior to closure the mine was operated by Avon Colliery Pty Ltd. owned by Avon Properties Pty Ltd. 100% and had a workforce of some 55 employees.

(This information was sourced direct from Mr. Roger Bancroft and the Dept. of Mineral Resources publication "Coal Industry Profile")

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