The Ivanhoe North Project was a small three-year open-cut mining operation, which combined the rehabilitation of the old 1940s former open cut operations with the concurrent recovery of the remaining coal.
Ivanhoe was originally known as the Cullen Main West open-cut mine, which operated shortly after World War II. The mine was abandoned in the 1950s and left un-rehabilitated for a number of years, until it was acquired by Centennial.
The mine has been a rehabilitation open-cut truck and shovel operation and ceased production in March 2012. Centennial recovered approximately 610 000 tonnes of coal over a three-year period and has progressively undertaken rehabilitation activities. The main areas requiring rehabilitation included the existing open-cut floor, the angle of repose overburden dumps, coarse reject dumps and abandoned high walls.
Ivanhoe's current remedial works include; backfilling the open cut, land contouring, soil spreading, plant seeding and fertilising, drainage works, removal of buildings and pit top infrastructure. This work is due to be completed by late 2012.
The result of this remedial work is that the once mined areas will be rehabilitated under a monitoring program, with the aim to restore the mined area to match the natural surrounding areas.