Yallourn power station was built in the 1920 to 1960 beside the latrobe river and the town of yallourn located to the south east.
The brown coal open cut mine is the largest open cut mine in Australia with the reserves to meet projected needs of the power station to 2032.
The mine is located on one of the largest brown coal deposits globally - the coal seam is 16 kms across, 100 metres thick and runs for over 60 kms through the valley. Orginally the coal was mined using the four coal dredgers and one overburden dredger, they are massive machines over 10 storeys high. The coal was then transported to the power station by conveyor belt.The 18 millon tonnes of brown coal mined now use the dozer push mining method.
Coal was discovered here in 1873.
Brown coal is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. During is formation over million of years,coal matures from a soft peat through to its hardest form anthracite. Coal is named either black or brown depending on both colour and composition. Brown coal {or lignite} is the lowest grade of coal and is softer due to its water content. It can contain up to 70% water.
To log this cache you must answer these questions and email the answer to me feelfree to take a photo.
1. Does yallourn open cut have brown or black coal?
2. How many kilometres wide is the seam?
3. How much water can it contain?
4. How was the coal mined orginally?
5. What is the cut full of?
6. Standing in front of the sign and look left ,what do you see?
if the gates are locked look to the left and tell me what you see. you may log straight away but please email me your answers