Griffin Coal extension: mine planning and closure signals for Collie engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
The Western Australian Government has extended its coal supply agreement with Griffin Coal beyond July 2026 by up to five years to maintain fuel to the 854MW Collie power stations during the state’s staged coal-fired generation exit. The extension secures continued open-cut operations at the Collie mine, which has historically supplied several million tonnes of thermal coal per year to Synergy under long-term contracts. For geotechnical and mining teams, the decision signals ongoing pit stability management, overburden handling and progressive rehabilitation planning on a multi-year horizon rather than rapid closure.
Technical Brief
- Extension is framed as critical to maintaining system security and reliability for the South West Interconnected System.
- WA Government explicitly links the agreement to avoiding unplanned outages during the staged coal exit period.
- Government messaging connects the extension to “orderly transition” planning rather than accelerated mine or plant shutdown.
- Statement positions coal supply as a contingency while additional renewable and storage capacity is built.
- For mine planning teams, the political commitment reduces near-term risk of abrupt contract termination.
Our Take
Coal appears in only a minority of the 704 Mining stories in our database, signalling that a multi‑year extension for Griffin Coal in Western Australia runs counter to the general pivot of recent coverage towards metals tied to decarbonisation.
The five‑year horizon from July 2026 effectively bridges Western Australia’s power system through the latter half of the decade, which is typically when large-scale renewables and firming projects now in planning would be expected to reach commissioning.
In our coal‑tagged pieces, most Australian mentions are tied to diversified majors such as Rio Tinto and Glencore rather than single‑asset operators, so Griffin Coal’s extended role in WA energy security concentrates operational and reliability risk in a relatively narrow supplier base.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Mining
Geotechnical software solutions for mining operations including CMRR analysis, hydrogeological testing, and data management.
CMRR-io
Streamline coal mine roof stability assessments with our cloud-based CMRR software featuring automated calculations, multi-scenario analysis, and collaborative workflows.
HYDROGEO-io
Comprehensive hydrogeological testing platform for managing, analysing, and reporting on packer tests, lugeon values, and hydraulic conductivity assessments.
GEODB-io
Centralised geotechnical data management solution for storing, accessing, and analysing all your site investigation and material testing data.