Huge methane plume from Queensland coal mine explosion underlines case for rapid closure

Just over a month ago, the Grosvenor coal mine in Queensland exploded.

On June 29, a methane fire spread rapidly underground and billowed out of the mine’s six ventilation shafts. There were 150 workers underground at the time. Thanks to some of the strictest methane safety standards in the world, they were all evacuated in time.

That fire continued burning day and night for at least two weeks. According to reporting, it was only “temporarily sealed” by the middle of July, and it wasn’t until July 25, almost a month after the fire began, that Anglo American CEO, Duncan Wanblad assured shareholders that “gas, temperature and drone monitoring suggest that the fire has now been extinguished”.

He did also note though that “we are unlikely to fully understand the extent of the damage for some time.”

So far, no one has been able to estimate the pollution caused by this blazing, weeks-long fire. 

However, on the same day that Wanblad addressed shareholders, CarbonMapper published imagery of a massive methane plume sighted by NASA satellites right above the Grosvenor coal mine. The plume identifies a persistent stream of methane being released at a rate of 7.6 tonnes per hour.

Over a 20 year period, methane is over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet.

This means it would take 10,000 tree saplings over ten years to undo the short term climate damage this methane plume could do in one hour.

We don’t yet know how long this methane plume may have lasted or whether it has even stopped.

Source: CarbonMapper

This was not the first time the Grosvenor mine has exploded.

On May 6, 2020 the mine had another massive methane fire, seriously injuring five workers at the time. In the year before, there were 27 recorded methane exceedances listed as “High Potential Incidents”.

A state inquiry was called in the wake of that fire, listing additional methane exceedance events at Moranbah North, Oaky Creek, and 11 methane incidents at Grasstree coal mine. All of these are regularly among the State’s highest emitting, gassiest underground mines.

That inquiry found that while it is “impossible to conclude that a methane exceedance would never occur…repeat occurrences are entirely unacceptable”. Three years later, Anglo American’s CEO admitted the mine’s safety was “still some way off where we had hoped to be”. 

In February this year, he warned investors that “ground conditions at Moranbah are particularly difficult at the moment” and that the Grosvenor mine was experiencing a “complex set of geotechnical challenges” making it “difficult for the team to predict how the strata will behave”.

Unfortunately, the Grosvenor mine has proven incredibly challenging to ensure a safe working environment, especially as emissions have increased.

The mine has one of the highest emissions intensities in Australia, and while the relationship between annualised emissions reporting and individual explosion risks is not direct, it is telling that two of Australia’s gassiest underground mines in the last year have had to close due to methane ignition events. 

For the workers at Russell Vale and Grosvenor, mine closures can feel existential. Mining towns rarely offer competitive job markets outside the industry, and if the mines aren’t replaced with alternative prospects, entire communities can simply disappear.

In the case of Grosvenor, while workers are being compensated until the end of this month, Anglo American has admitted that they have no plans to re-invest or reopen the mine themselves, and are now reportedly looking to Indonesian investors to potentially buy up the mine. 

But with no timeline in sight for reopening, prospects for more than 1,200 coal miners in Grosvenor must look dim.

That is why we believe the Australian and Queensland governments need to take this critical opportunity to intervene, and proactively offer workers an alternative, just transition from coal mining.

In the prelude to Queensland’s Clean Economy Pathway, Energy and Clean Economy Jobs Minister Mick de Brenni promised that “if you’re a miner in Mackay, a boilermaker in Bundy, or a welder in Warwick, we are making the transition to renewables to secure your job and to create jobs for your kids”. 

Grosvenor coal mine is right next to Mackay, and has clearly proven to be an unsafe place to work. What’s more, the coal mine is one of the gassiest coal mines in Australia, critically undermining state and national emissions targets.

If ever there was going to be a place to kick-start a just transition in Australia, as the government has promised to do so since 2022, Grosvenor coal mine would be the place to do it.

Not only would it be the perfect pilot site for the state government to walk the talk ahead of a challenging October election, but it is a clear example of why the Net Zero Authority needs to create a pathway for coal mines to transition, expanding its remit and using its existing budget allocation as leverage to support places just like Grosvenor.

Through strategic state and federal coordination, the Grosvenor coal mine tragedy could be the perfect starting point to strategically close one of Australia’s gassiest coal mines, and support its workers through the type of just transition that unions have been calling on for years.

Chris Wright is climate strategy advisor at Ember