Bounty Mining Ltd. upgraded the Koorilgah rail loop at its Cook colliery in Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia, allowing it to use full capacity trains of 8,500 tonnes, from the previous 5,500 tonnes.

The additional capacity will deliver operating cost savings of at least A$5 per tonne of coal, the company said Aug. 14.

Bounty spent A$2 million on the upgrade, which included installing new ballast, formation work, new sleepers, weight meter and train overload facilities.

Furthermore, Bounty transferred a fourth continuous miner underground at Cook, which is expected to kick off coal cutting in the third week of this month.

An additional sumping machine is scheduled to go underground at the end of August, which is anticipated to increase the mining rate to 1 million tonnes per annum run-of-mine rate from Sept. 6.