International Power, Fire Crew Fight Australia Coal Mine Blaze

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- International Power Plc, the biggest electricity generator in Australia, said the company is working with the Country Fire Authority to contain a fire burning at a disused part of a coal mine in Victoria state.

No critical infrastructure is under threat and coal supply is unaffected from the Hazelwood mine to a power plant that meets about a quarter of Victoria's electricity needs, Graeme York, chief executive officer of the company's Australian unit, said on its Web site. The fire is in an unused part of the mine, Jim Kouts, an Adelaide-based spokesman, said by telephone today.

The Hazelwood mine and power station are in the Latrobe Valley, 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. The mine produces about 18 million metric tons of brown coal a year to fuel the 1,675-megawatt power station, according to International Power's Australian Web site.

Firefighters are concentrating on a 500-meter area and will continue their efforts over the next 48 hours, the company said. There are about 100 Country Fire Authority personnel at the site, alongside International Power employees working to contain the blaze, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net