Anglo American has restarted longwall mining operations at Grosvenor following regulatory approval last week.

Production from the metallurgical coal mine ceased in the wake of a gas explosion on May 6, 2020, in which five coal mine workers were seriously injured.

The re-entry process kicked off in April 2021 and development mining activities at the underground mine have been underway since June 2021.

Chief executive officer of Anglo American’s metallurgical coal business, Tyler Mitchelson, said the restart yesterday followed significant investment in new equipment, and the development of new technologies to support the safe operation of the mine.

“Over the past 18 months, we have worked with leading industry experts and invested significantly in underground automation technology, remote operations, gas management and data analytics, to introduce a number of advancements in the way our underground metallurgical coal mines operate,” he said.

“Our scale in underground mining has allowed us to leverage technologies being developed and piloted at our other operations, to ensure Grosvenor mine restarted with the benefit of proven advancements in safety and technology.”

He said removing people from harm’s way presented the single biggest opportunity to improve safety in Anglo operations.

“The incident in 2020 has had a terrible and ongoing impact on our injured colleagues, their families, our workforce and the community, and they are in our thoughts today,” he said.

“I would like to thank our Grosvenor workforce and the Moranbah community for their support, as we have worked towards a safe and successful restart of longwall mining.”

Related: Anglo brings new $450m CQ coal mine online

Mr Mitchelson said Anglo American’s newest underground metallurgical coal operation, Aquila, had also been established with the advanced remote operation capability in place.

Key technologies implemented at Grosvenor include:

– Automation and remote operation of longwall equipment, to remove people from hazardous areas of the mine

– A Remote Operations Centre, located on the surface of mine, providing operators with improved control and access to real-time monitoring data

– Investment in gas management infrastructure and systems including doubling gas drainage capability at Grosvenor.

– Introduction of new Met Coal Analytics Centre, providing operational support in data science capabilities.