Kestrel South longwall operations have been suspended.

It follows what’s been described as a ‘frictional ignition’ on Sunday afternoon, (6 June), at the underground coal mine located 40km north-east of Emerald in the southern Bowen Basin.

No workers were injured and the Queensland Mines Inspectorate has been notified. 

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Kestrel Coal temporarily suspended longwall operations while an internal investigation was conducted into the cause of the incident. 

The company said in a statement that safety of their employees was its highest priority. 

Kestrel’s other underground operations were continuing and the mine said it would continue to work with the relevant authorities.

Kestrel is one of the world’s largest producing underground coking or metallurgical coal mines accounting for around 7.1 MT of coal annually.

It has a workforce of around 600, including 400 site full-time employees, 200 site contractors and a small head office team in Brisbane.

Kestrel is a joint venture formed in 2018 between EMR Capital and Adaro Energy (80%) and Mitsui Coal (20%).