Though it started operations in April this year, Rio Tinto Ltd formally inaugurated its $US1.29 billion or $A1.3 billion Clermont thermal coal mine on Friday, located in the Bower Basin of Queensland, with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh attending the official opening ceremonies.

In her speech during the event, Ms Bligh lauded Rio Tinto for its Clermont mine operations as she noted that the company did not waver on its commitment to hire women, indigenous Australians and even people without prior mining experience.

The new mining facility, which saw its first coal shipment in May, would be replacing the nearby Blair Athol mine, scheduled to be closed down in 2016 as it nears the end of its lifetime.

The thermal coal project is currently managed by a unit of Rio Tinto, the Queensland Coal Pty Ltd, and also a joint venture with Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd of Japan, JCD Australia Pry Ltd and J-Power also of Japan.

As per the latest production guidance for the new mining site, the Clermont project is estimated to hold a deposit of 189 million tonnes of thermal coal reserves and presently delivers its coal harvests to the Blair Athol mine through a conveyor.

Rio Tinto chief executive for energy Doug Ritchie said that the new Clermont mine would be extending the legacy of the Blair Athol, which has been in operations for 25 years now, as he ad

ded that the newly-opened mining site would be "extending this region's mining future as we expect it will operate for the next 17 years."

Rio Tinto said that thermal coal output from the Clermont mine would be shipped to Japan, Korea and Thailand with some part of the production to be reserved for local power generation needs as the company forecasted that by time the site achieves full capacity on 2013, export shipments should reach a peak of 12 million tonnes while another 100,000 tonnes would be allocated for domestic usage.

As a direct benefit to Queensland's economy, the Clermont mine, according to Rio Tinto, would deliver some $500 million of gross state product per annum and $100 million worth of state royalties and rail freight fees every year.

Also, Rio Tinto is set to employ a total of 380 full-time staffs and 260 contractual workers during the course of its operations with up to 3800 jobs to be indirectly generated by mining site, which would benefit much of Queensland area.