21. Open cut mining finished at Ranger in late 2012 and the mine is now processing stockpiled ore.22. The Werris Creek open cut mine is located 4 km south of Werris Creek on the Quirindi road. 23. On 18 May 1922, the Queensland Governor Matthew Nathan officially opened Australia's first open cut mine at Blair Athol. 24. Another key factor was the shift to more efficient large-scale mining leading to the dominance of open cut mines . 25. In 1984, the Rio Tinto company opened its main mine at this location, as a large scale open cut mine . 26. When in production, the open cut mine was capable of producing up to 14, 000 tonnes of graphite concentrate annually. 27. In the early 1960s, the line was realigned between Uhyst and Lohsa because of the expansion of the Lohsa open cut mine . 28. Total production from the Ipswich area was 2.8 million tonnes ( 1.54 from open cut mines and 1.28 from underground operations ). 29. The Abel Underground Mine is situated 26 km from Newcastle, with the portal coming off the high wall of Donaldson Open Cut Mine . 30. "' Cadia Mine "'is a series of large Ridgeway underground mine, and Cadia East underground mine, adjacent to the Cadia Open Cut Mine .
