Terrace Mine, Reefton, Buller District, West Coast Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Terrace Mine	Mine
Reefton	Town
Buller District	District
West Coast Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

The Terrace coal mine, as the name suggests, is located on a flat terrace, one kilometre north-east of Reefton, between the town, and Victoria Range. A small area is reserved also on the north-east edge of the town for coal storage bins.

Surface evidence indicates open cut coal mining has taken place, but is presently described as a small underground coal mine, on the number 4 seam, accessing sub-bituminous coal, largely for the New Zealand domestic market. The mine has been operational at periods for over one hundred years.

The mine was first opened by the Reefton Coal Company, purchased by New Zealand government owned Solid Energy in 1988, before closing again in mid 2009 due to increasing costs. With Solid Energy going into liquidation due to debts it had accumulated from unwise investments, all its mines were placed up for sale.

In 2011, the mine was purchased from Solid Energy by Crusader Coal Limited, a small private company floated with the intention of re-opening the mine. It consists of four Australian miners, and two ex-pat New Zealand miners, mainly with mine engineering expertise. Coal mining started again in November 2013, with an expected output eventually of 70 000 tonnes per annum. There is an estimated 14 Mt of coal in the seam, with an expected mine life of 15 years.

One of the party, Bernie Lambley is managing the mine, while the rest have remained at their day jobs in Australia. The company states the small operation is the future for coal mining on the West Coast. While this may be true, it also represents its history, with many small gold and coal mines since the early days owned and operated by mine workers.

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