Well time for New Zealand's own dedicated little coal thread following on from oil wind and geothermal
Sorry about the initial long post as the link is just a daily updated pdf file of the front page of the Westport News
Glad I don't intend living along that truck route. Knowing the West Coast I can see some real bottlenecks transporting the coal
but then again...we just gotta deliver..the customer demands it

For the rest of you I'd add that Westport isn't your ideal sheltered deep water port..the cement ships have enough trouble
and the rail link to the east coast port of Lytttleton via a single line through the 8 km Otira tunnel, has its problems
Rail workers fear tunnel disaster

Solid Energy is lifting capacity from the Stockton opencast mine by 300,000 tonnes a year by replacing the 120 coal buckets on the aerial ropeway with new lightweight steel boxes. Capacity will increase from 2 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes. Solid Energy has awarded the $2.7m contract to Brightwater Engineering of Nelson to build the new coal boxes. Currently each bucket on the 2.2km aerial ropeway carries 1.4 tonnes of coal. The new ones will carry up to 1.7 tonnes. A trial box has been successfully operating on the ropeway for over a month. Delivery and phased installation of the new boxes is expected to begin in late April, with full replacement expected to be complete in June, the company said in a statement. Solid Energy chief operating officer, Barry Bragg, said Solid Energy was investigating long-term options for replacing both road haulage from the plateau to the ropeway infeed and the aerial itself. Solid Energy expected to decide on a replacement system later this year. A new system could further increase capacity off the plateau and minimise the environmental impact of trucking coal on the plateau roads. Solid Energy also has 60 new 50-tonne coal wagons ordered. The first 30 are being built at Toll Rail’s Hillside workshops in Dunedin, with delivery due at the end of June. Mr Bragg said On Track, owners of the rail network, was making steady progress carrying out essential work on the Midland rail line between the West Coast and the export Port of Lyttelton. Toll Rail was on target to move more than two million tonnes of coal by rail in the current year, up to the end of June. “While it is not an ideal solution, we need to continue trucking coal from Ngakawau to Reefton, along with trucking to the Westport wharf, to deliver the increased distribution capacity we need to meet customer demand,â€

hi again, Skiwi. i lived in Ngakawau (pronounced knock-a-wah)...right under those coal buckets. (actually, it was just the other side of the river, in Hector....but you can throw a rock from one and hit the other.) i've walked the Charming Creek walkway (so so beautiful!) that comes out right next to the coal operation. i have friends who work for the mining company.

those friends still mourn a very dear young woman who was killed by the dangerous coal trains. her parents grieve so. those train tracks criss-cross that road to Westport several times in a short drive, and let me tell you the trains are not easy to see, Especially at night. you have to come to a complete stop, most of the time, unless you just saw the train pass.

as i remember, the locals petitioned for lights on the coal-cars, and did get authorities to require reflective material, but that's all. have you spotted any news of that safety concern being resolved?

i do so miss the place. i want my friends safe. nobody has mentioned it lately, and i hate to bring it up to them as there are some very painful memories attached to Nellie's death.

may she rest in peace. she was much-loved, and is much missed.

are you still considering moving there?

Hi AnnaLivia, Now I know how to pronounce it after driving through it a 100 times

Sorry to hear of the sad memories that take the gloss off the good
Suprisingly there is still a level crossing on the Westport to Hector line with no lights or bells as I found out last month when I was stopping for an oncoming coal train only to be overtaken by someone who came within 10 metres of being spattered all over it

I've walked the Leslie/Karamea track from the Tablelands to Little Wanganui 5 times. The first 4 times alone
Last time in 2003 with my 9 year old twin boys and 4 year old boy
We got caught in some atrocious Sept/Oct weather and after 19 days
and 6 days overdue were finally evacuated by helicopter

Oh and the offer is in for a little farmlet over the hill near Karamea

I see coal is also in the Westport News again today

The rail link between the West Coast and Christchurch remains closed today after a coal train derailed yesterday. The accident derailed or partly derailed seven wagons, damaged about 70m of track and spilled a large quantity of coal at Jacksons, about 27km north-west of Arthurs Pass. No one was injured. A mechanical fault may have caused the incident that happened at about 10.30am. At the same time, firefighters were called out after a small fire started near a rubbish pile about 20km further up the track. After extinguishing the fire, the crew found a cone shaped metal bearing, around 180 by 300 millimetres in size. “It had been ground out by the looks of it. Jeez, it was hot,â€

aw, Skiwi...you're making me SO "homesick" for Aotearoa! dang, i've got so much on my plate these days i can't have the long conversation i wish i could with you. geography got it wrong in my case, i'm afraid. i think i was meant to be born in the southern hemisphere!

(for readers, Aotearoa means "land of the long white cloud". many of the place names we are referring to are Maori names, the Maori being the indigenous people of NZ.)

i walked just a short bit of the Heaphy track...just up to Scott's bluff. and boy do i have the sandfly-bite scars to prove it, though they were only at the starting/ending point closest to Karmea and the sea. those buggars love the fresh meat that we travellers provide. have you been up to the Oparara Arch? that primeval forest on the way to it is absolutely the most magic place i have ever experienced, i mean it. pure heaven. it took my breath away. i am so jealous! hope your offer on the farmlet goes through for you! i'll come visit...help ya milk the cows, har har!

and here i thought it was dumb americans that kept those choppers busy. the weather is certainly to prepare for if you're going out that many days. glad you all were unharmed. that would have been scary for me with the little ones along.

(btw, i heard Greymouth had tornadoes last week or so. took roofs off.)

and the beach at Gentle Annie is a fav of mine, too (though i went every day to Hector beach because i could walk to it and practically owned the place to myself). i ate a steak so tender you could chew it with your throat, at that place "the Cowshed" at Gentle Annie. oh, yum!

people who have never been there will think this is crazy (from your link):

She said: "The decision about whether or not to potentially sacrifice 10 kiwis and their habitat for 10 years of mining is for this court to decide."

what a terrible decision these people have to make. the Kiwi (birds) are dissappearing so quickly! the people want so desperately to keep NZ clean and green, but they also desperately need jobs there on the west coast. you know if you move to that area now, you'll not qualify for any unemployment benefit, right? i forget what they call those zones, but they designated them "off limits for that benefit" (to FUTURE residents) while i was there last year.

it's funny...we might have actually run into each other and not know it. have you stopped at Drifters Cafe-cum-music-club in Granity? (i might have cooked your chips or done your dishes.) my friend has sold it now, but some of my artwork used to live on display there. my pal was a fisherman before the cafe...in Golden Bay and all up and down the coast...and he teared up when he talked of the friends who have died trying to cross that bar getting into Westport...

i'll try to keep watching about the Cypress mine and all. i can't tell you how delightful it is to have all these wonderful memories brought to the forefront of my mind again, Skiwi. thanks!!

and...come read my thread in open discussions if you get a chance. my friends from NZ would be so NOT suprised at my efforts, i can bloody well guarantee you that. har har!

OH!

I just saw Whale Rider recently. Very touching and meaningful movie.

Coal deal risk played down

State coal miner Solid Energy says there is a small possibility it may not meet an $800 million coal supply deal with Genesis Power.

A supply shortfall could force Genesis to import more Indonesian coal and increase its prices.

The latest concerns about supply come two weeks after revelations of a big fall in Solid Energy's recoverable coal reserves in the Waikato, undermining Solid Energy's claims that coal can substitute for declining Maui gas supplies and prevent an energy crisis...

"...at economic prices..."

makes me wonder what the execs at Henry Walker Eltin are pulling down.

mornin' Skiwi. hava good one.

Lucky you weren't walking along Charming Creek Walkway when this happened. Thursdays Westport News
Stopped at Drifters Cafe in 2003 and saw in for sale on the internet but Granity... to coalie for me

The Department of Conservation is satisfied that an unstable rock face at Charming Creek is now safe to pass, after a massive slip in early January closed the public walkway. . .. During an investigation, geologist Anthony Black found much of the surrounding rock face fractured, from past mining activity or natural hazard, Mr Jose said. Blasting methods used to build the old Charming Creek railway line might have shattered rock in the area. “The whole lower section of the Charming Creek and the lower gorge there is unstable.â€

Greymouth coal expansion plans

Coal exports through the Port of Greymouth are expected to top 3.6 million tonnes a year within five years with full development of the Spring Creek and Roa mines and the proposed Pike River mine.

That compares with 100,000 tonnes a year currently....

The changes could mean coal trucks passing through town every 38 seconds...

Fishermen join in fight against coal bid

Commercial fishermen are promising to work with environmentalists to fight a proposal by Seatow to transfer 2.5 million tonnes of West Coast coal a year from barges to ships in Golden Bay.

Port Nelson Fishermen’s Association president Darren Guard said there could be "catastrophic effects" on the environment if the proposal went ahead.

Mr Guard said pristine beaches in Golden and Tasman Bays could "turn black" over time from the coal dust blown on the prevailing north to north-west winds.

Coal dust was wetted down in Westport "but the whole town is black regardless"...

Miners to down tools on Coast

Solid Energy's West Coast, Southland and Waikato coalmines will be brought to a standstill by strike action after pay talks with the state-owned enterprise broke down yesterday....

The Spring Creek mine is not making money and cannot afford the claims made by the union," he said. "The future of the mine depends on it achieving a significant improvement in mine productivity."