Business South August 2020

| 27 Volume 29 | Issue 4 businesssouth RCCL ARE PROUD TO BE ASSOC I ATED WI TH B I RCHF I ELD COAL MI NES Phone: 03 732 8716 Email: accounts@reeftoncraneandconstruction.co.nz www.reeftoncraneandconstruction.co.nz LTD WWW.BRIGHTWATER.CO.NZ Design | Engineering | Fabrication | Construction Together we are proud to support Birch ield Coal Mines Birchfield’s current operations on the West Coast include the Giles Creek Mine near Reefton and the Strongman Mine at Greymouth. MINING - WEST COAST » Birchfield Coal Mines Crisis underlines industry’s value Nick Gormack W est Coast coal mining company Birchfield Coal Mines says the vital role played by the coal industry in the South Island economy was brought home in the recent Covid-19 crisis. The coal mining sector supplying domestic users was deemed as an “essential industry” during the country’s lockdown period, allowing the industry to keep critical coal supplies going into hospitals, aged care facilities and food producers. . Birhcfield Coal Mines Chief Executive Officer, Phil McKinnel says this reinforces the sector’s ongoing strategic importance to the wider economy and the export sector. “In the South Island coal remains critical and I think that was shown when we were deemed to be an essential service in the covid lockdown,” he says. “It’s a vital part of the supply chain. It helps to keep our hospitals warm, it keeps our dairy factories processing milk, and it’s also a key part of horticultural production.” And Phil says that this also emphasises that the much-touted “alternatives” to fossil fuels just aren’t a realistic option at the moment for many indus- tries, especially in the South Island. “You have to look at cost-effectiveness and in terms of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) the impact of increasing costs for primary producers and food producers. “Coal is efficiently produced and is cost-effective, the alternatives just aren’t there yet, without serious economic consequences.” • to page 28 “Coal is efficiently produced and is cost-effective, the alternatives just aren’t there yet, without serious economic consequences.” Phil says while the ETS is not well understood by many outside the industries that are exposed to it, the continued trend of increasing costs under the ETS will be passed on “either directly to consumers or to processors who will then pass them on”. The family-owned and operated Birchfield Coal Mines (Evan, Gary & Karen Birchfield are the three directors) has been based on the West Coast for 40 years - with recent expansion to Darfield in Canterbury. The company is considered to be a significant employer in the West Coast region and also uses the services of a wide range of contractors. Birchfield’s current operations on the West Coast include the Giles Creek Mine near Reefton – which the company has operated since 1980 - and the Strongman Mine which Birchfield acquired from Solid Energy in 2017 The Giles Creek coal is described as a typical West Coast sub-bituminous coal with low ash, low sulphur and clean burning qualities. He says the mine has significant coal reserves and could continue as long as the demand for the product remains.