Whitehaven Coal – Maules Creek open day

Boggabri Showground was a hive of activity recently as Whitehaven Coal – Maules Creek Coal Mine held its community open day.

Whitehaven Coal’s general manager community engagement, Darren Swain said the event was a fantastic way to bring employees, their families and the local community together.

“More than 1000 people came through the gates on Saturday, with a number of local businesses trading at the event, which was fantastic to see”.

“We also had a number of suppliers and local emergency services, including Fire and Rescue NSW and the State Emergency Service, bringing their staff and equipment along to meet the community.”

The event brought together community members from across the region, local businesses, suppliers and Whitehaven Coal’s mining teams, and saw plenty of family friendly activities for residents and the local community to enjoy.

Young family members lined up to have their face painted, for a pony ride, a turn in the jumping castles and a bus trip to see where mum or dad work.

The community open day also gave attendees an insight into Whitehaven Coal’s mining processes, with plenty of machinery on display including a grader, loader, and a very large excavator bucket, as well as a drift runner, which is an underground people carrier, and coal haulage trucks.

More than 60 Whitehaven Coal staff, including members of the underground and open cut operations, rehabilitation/environment, biodiversity, geology, recruitment and health and safety teams were also on hand to talk to the community about their work.

“The guided bus tours of the Maules Creek mine site were particularly popular and these were a great opportunity for the community to get a behind the scenes look at how a working coal mine operates,” said Mr Swain.

“More than 500 people took the tours throughout the day, where they got a first-hand look at our operations and the opportunity to meet with the Maules Creek team to understand how coal is mined, processed and transported.”

Numerous compliments were heard from the crowd as to how cute the little ones were in their high viz coal mining uniforms while running around collecting balloons, Fire and Rescue hats, SES tattoos, driving the heavy machinery simulators and carrying a free tree.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Beatrix Hirst stole the show when she wanted to join in the entertainment provided by the Fabulasses.

Abbie Logan obliged and gave Beatrix her tambourine so that Beatrix had her turn in the spotlight.

Mr Swain finished by saying: “I’d like to thank everyone, including members of the local community, employees and their families, suppliers and local businesses who came along and we look forward to more community events later this year.”