A mine-life pathway to 2055.
~220ha. ~55Mt ROM. One federal approval that protects decades of operating continuity.
The Commonwealth has approved BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s Saraji Mine Grevillea Pit Continuation Project under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, clearing a major federal environmental approval gate for continued open-cut mining east of the existing Grevillea Pit.
The approved action extends mining beyond ML 1782 into the approximately 220-hectare ML 700021 footprint near Dysart in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, with BMA’s project documentation identifying an operating horizon through to approximately FY2055.
BMA estimates the continuation area will provide approximately 55 million tonnes of run-of-mine metallurgical coal. Importantly, the project is designed to sustain Saraji’s existing production rather than increase annual product output.
From referral to approval: the Commonwealth pathway behind Grevillea
BMA referred the Grevillea Pit Continuation Project to the Commonwealth in December 2023. In June 2024, the project was determined to be a controlled action under the EPBC Act because of potential impacts to listed threatened species and ecological communities and to water resources associated with a large coal mining development.
The project was assessed through preliminary documentation, supported by terrestrial ecology, surface-water, groundwater, groundwater-dependent ecosystem, rehabilitation, offset and management-plan material.
The physical change is concentrated at the mine front — not across the whole Saraji system
The project area covers approximately 220 hectares and comprises ML700021 immediately east of current Saraji operations in ML1782.
BMA’s documentation places the project between Spring Creek to the north and Phillips Creek to the south, with existing high-voltage power easements further east.
That geography is commercially important: Grevillea can feed into Saraji’s established operating system rather than requiring a new standalone CHPP, rail-loading and export chain.
What actually changes on the ground?
BMA estimates the continuation will extract approximately 55Mt of ROM metallurgical coal over the project period. The approved project continues the same broad open-cut mining approach already used at Saraji, including vegetation clearing, topsoil removal, drilling and blasting, overburden and interburden removal, coal extraction, spoil placement and progressive rehabilitation.
Mining is expected to continue using dragline, truck and shovel/excavator methods. Coal will continue to be processed and loaded through existing Saraji infrastructure.
The real brownfield advantage: most of Saraji’s operating system already exists
Saraji already operates as a large integrated mine complex with coal processing, rail loading, stockpiles, tailings, water systems, electrical infrastructure, roads, workshops, offices and maintenance facilities.
That is why Grevillea should be read as a sustaining-life project rather than a conventional greenfield build.
Within ML700021, BMA’s planning identifies continued or relocated supporting infrastructure including haul roads, pit ramps and benches, spoil areas, flood-protection levees, dams, drains and pipelines, an earth-moving-equipment build pad, electrical lines and substations.
Do not confuse Grevillea with the separate Saraji East project
The newly approved Grevillea project extends the existing open-cut pit into ML700021, uses established Saraji infrastructure, adds about 55Mt ROM and is designed to sustain existing output through to around FY2055.
Saraji East is a different underground mine proposal with its own development concept and approvals history. BBI has covered that project separately. The Grevillea approval should not be interpreted as approval or commitment for Saraji East.
Read BBI’s separate background coverage: Saraji East Project — BMA, Bowen Basin .
The opportunity is recurring work — not one giant EPC package
The biggest commercial implication is duration.
Grevillea supports an operating mine that will continue consuming engineering, maintenance, equipment support, civil, environmental, water and rehabilitation services as the mining sequence advances.
Individual packages will depend on BMA’s operating and procurement strategy, but the approval strengthens the long-term base case for activity around Saraji.
Where does long-duration contractor demand sit?
Haul roads, ramps, benches, access, drainage, spoil placement, levees, pads and supporting earthworks remain essential as Grevillea advances into ML700021.
Mechanical reliability, structural maintenance, conveyors, pumps, piping, electrical systems, instrumentation, shutdown support and plant upgrades remain relevant to long-term production continuity.
Dams, drains, pipelines, groundwater monitoring, flood protection, electrical distribution, progressive rehabilitation and closure planning remain embedded in the mine’s operating requirements.
Drill and blast, heavy-equipment maintenance, tyres, fuel, field service, components, workshops, planning, surveying and operational support are the recurring capabilities behind the approved continuation.
Long-term workstreams worth tracking
The approval also sits inside a wider environmental and economic debate
The Commonwealth assessment focused on nationally significant environmental matters including listed threatened species and communities and water resources. Technical assessment material considered habitat for species including the greater glider, koala, southern squatter pigeon and ornamental snake, as well as surface water, groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
BMA says Grevillea supports existing Saraji operations and enables production to proceed as planned. Its project documentation argues that using established rail, road, power, water, processing and support infrastructure avoids the wider infrastructure footprint associated with a new greenfield mine.
Greenpeace, the Climate Council and Central Queensland environmental advocates have criticised the approval, citing the additional coal extraction, long project life, climate impacts, habitat disturbance and water-resource concerns.
The approval decision does not remove that debate. For BBI’s Project Watch purpose, the key distinction is between the fact of approval, the operational work it enables, and the environmental conditions and obligations that remain attached to delivery.
The next useful signals will come from operating plans, sustaining works and compliance delivery
With the Commonwealth approval now secured, the market should watch how BMA sequences mining into ML700021, what supporting infrastructure is relocated or constructed and how water, rehabilitation and environmental obligations are implemented.
Those details are more commercially useful to contractors than treating the approval itself as a single capital project.
What is confirmed — and what should the market avoid assuming?
- Federal EPBC approval has been granted with conditions.
- Project reference is EPBC 2023/09757.
- The continuation area is approximately 220ha in ML700021.
- The mining footprint extends east from the existing Grevillea Pit in ML1782.
- Approximately 55Mt ROM metallurgical coal is estimated.
- The project horizon extends to approximately FY2055.
- The project is intended to sustain existing output, not increase annual product tonnage.
- Existing Saraji CHPP, train load-out, stockpiles, water and support infrastructure will continue to be used.
- Dragline and truck/shovel-excavator mining methods continue.
- Progressive rehabilitation forms part of the project.
- Detailed mine-sequence timing into ML700021.
- New or relocated haul roads and pit infrastructure.
- Water-management works and monitoring requirements.
- Electrical relocations and supporting substations.
- Flood-protection and drainage works.
- Earth-moving-equipment build-pad relocation.
- Equipment maintenance and shutdown packages.
- CHPP and materials-handling sustaining projects.
- Environmental offset and monitoring delivery.
- Progressive rehabilitation works.
- Specific tender and supplier releases from BMA.
2055 matters because duration — not new capacity — is the commercial story
Grevillea is not a new mine and it is not designed to lift Saraji’s annual product output.
That actually makes the approval more relevant to a different part of the Queensland contractor market.
A greenfield development can create a concentrated construction cycle. A continuation project works differently: it protects an operating base that can keep maintenance teams, field-service providers, engineering firms, drill-and-blast suppliers, equipment specialists, water contractors, civil crews and rehabilitation providers relevant year after year.
BMA’s own documentation points to the scale of that continuity: about 55Mt ROM from the continuation area, an approximately 220ha footprint and an operating horizon to FY2055 while continuing to use Saraji’s established CHPP, rail, water, power and maintenance systems.
The federal decision therefore does more than approve another pit boundary. It removes a major approval uncertainty from the long-term mine sequence at one of the Bowen Basin’s most established metallurgical-coal operations.
For suppliers, the question is not “when does the new mine get built?” It is “which sustaining scopes will BMA need to keep Saraji productive, compliant and reliable for the next three decades?”
What contractors and suppliers should watch next
Grevillea is a useful example of why Project Watch is not only about headline construction capex — mine-life continuity can be just as important for the regional supply chain.
Find firms positioned to support Bowen Basin mine operations
Explore mining-service, engineering, civil, maintenance and industrial capability across the Isaac Region and wider Bowen Basin.
Sources
- Industry Queensland — Green light for Saraji mine’s Grevillea pit extension
- BHP — Regulatory information: Saraji Mine Grevillea Pit Continuation Project EPBC 2023/09757
- Independent Expert Scientific Committee — Saraji Mine Grevillea Pit Continuation Project advice
- BHP — Saraji mine
- Climate Council — response to the Grevillea approval
- Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland — Grevillea submission / criticism