In February 2023, the last coal was mined at Newlands, closing one of north-east Australia’s longest-running coal operations as planned, four decades after the first cut.
But while mining has stopped, work at Newlands is far from over.
The site is now the focus of one of Australia's largest coal mine rehabilitation projects, an ambitious undertaking that aims to return the land to cattle grazing after decades of underground and open-cut mining.
It is this next phase of Newlands' story, and the people helping to bring it to life, that sits at the heart of Glencore Australia’s new documentary, Back to the Bottle Tree.
40 years, over 225 million tonnes
40 years, over 225 million tonnes
Newlands Coal opened in 1981, in the northern reaches of Queensland’s Bowen Basin. The first coal came out two years later. Over the next 40 years, Newlands grew into a large-scale and highly productive thermal and metallurgical coal operation, supported by extensive coal handling and processing infrastructure.
The scale of Newlands is difficult to grasp. Fifteen mining leases across more than 32,000 hectares, an area that could fit more than 42,000 football pitches. Twenty-five open-cut pits and ramps, and two underground mines..
The work is extensive, technical and measured in decades rather than years.
During its operational life, Newlands produced more than 225 million tonnes of coal for export through Abbot Point, Australia’s most northern coal export port.
A new chapter at Newlands
The rehabilitation work underway at Newlands reflects Glencore’s approach to closure planning. We recognise that our industrial activities are finite and that we are only temporary custodians of the land on which we operate. For this reason, we seek to integrate closure planning throughout the life of our operations.
By planning for closure in this way, we aim to support responsible closure outcomes, including environmental rehabilitation and a just and orderly transition for our workforce and local communities.
At Newlands, this philosophy is being put into practice at a remarkable scale. Across a landscape once defined by mining, teams are reshaping landforms, returning material to former pits, replacing topsoil and re-establishing vegetation. When complete, around 85% of the site is expected to be returned to productive grazing land and the remainder restored as native woodland that supports regional biodiversity.
The work is extensive, technical and measured in decades rather than years.
Before the Queensland Government will certify that rehabilitated land meets its designated post-mining use, the site must clear years of flora and fauna monitoring, soil testing and water quality testing.
During a site visit, representatives from Queensland's Department of Environment stood overlooking an area that had once formed part of the mine. Surveying the rehabilitated landscape, they were asked if they could identify where the former pit had been. They couldn't. For the teams who have spent years working to restore the land, this was a powerful reminder of how far the project has come.
For many employees, closure has also meant developing new skills, taking on new challenges and preparing for the next stage of their careers. Rehabilitation has become a major project in its own right, and the people running it have earned new qualifications and moved into new roles across Glencore’s operations.
Closure is not the end of Newlands. It is the part of the story where the land is handed back: to the country, the cattle and the communities that shaped it.