Celebrating 50 years at Goonyella Riverside Mine and Hay Point Coal Terminal

2021 marks a special year in BMA's history with Goonyella Riverside Mine and Hay Point Coal Terminal (HPCT) both celebrating 50 years of operations.

Established by a joint venture between Utah Development Company and Mitsubishi Development in 1969, Hay Point was built to service the Goonyella and Peak Downs mine sites.

Hay Point saw their first coal loaded in 1971 - with just a single berth, shiploader and crawler mounted reclaimer and stacker. Now 50 years on, Hay Point has three berths and five stacker reclaimers and has seen more than 1.3 Billion tonnes through the operation.

The original Goonyella Mine, also owned and managed by the Utah Development Company, commenced operations in 1971 and merged with the adjoining Riverside Mine in 1982. Since then, the now Goonyella Riverside Mine is one of our oldest operations and produces enough met coal each year to build the Burj Khalifa 1,600 times over.

General Manager Hay Point Coal Terminal, Mel Johnson, said it was an exciting milestone for BMA as the two operations share a close relationship.

"It's great to share this milestone with the Goonyella team as their coal was the first to be railed and shipped through Hay Point," Mel said.

"We have many incredible people here and I'm proud to work with a team who have so much passion and pride in their operation. To have so many of our team mates with 20, 30 and even close to 50 years working here is a testament to the culture built at Hay Point."

"To celebrate the occasion we had a family day here on site and had some of our longer serving employees share stories and flashbacks from the past."

General Manager Goonyella Riverside Mine, Sean Milfull, said the mine has played an important role in growth and strength of BMA for generations with plenty of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters working alongside each other through the years.

"BMA and Goonyella has had a long history in the Bowen Basin and we're proud of what we've been able to achieve in 50 years," Sean said.

"We've come a long way and hope to continue to make our people and community proud."