DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17240510
title: The Association of Asthma hospitalisations with proximity to coal mining in the Fitzroy Basin of Queensland, Australia. Preliminary report and data

description: Background

Coalmining and its impacts on human health have been a global concern in public health. The coalmining industry is still booming with an expected increase in mining production forecasted over the next decade. Quantification methods used in recent research involve measuring mortality and environmental indicators related to air pollution or known carcinogenic metals found in coalmining areas (Chakraborty et al., 2021). Little attempts have been made to incorporate spatial analysis to further draw correlations and identification of disease hotspots and high risks areas. Furthermore, only a minimal amount of research has been carried out for coalmining sites in Queensland, the state with the largest outputs of coals mined in Australia (Cortes-Ramirez et al., 2024; Cortes-Ramirez et al., 2019). This study aims to assess proximity to coalmining sites and assessing its association with hospitalisations amongst residence in coal mining regions. A better understanding on how the proximity to a coal mine site can impact population health will benefit the public health sector by identifying high risk areas that need to be prioritise for prevention interventions. 

 

Methods

Study area and data source

The Fitzroy basin is situated in central Queensland towards the Australian east coast. The area covers a landmass of more than 156,000 square kilometres. This expansive area is further subdivided into roughly 338 suburb or locality (SSC) and established throughout these areas are roughly 59 open-pit coal mines, that are all in active operation status for the years that this study is conducted for (2010 - 2020). Coal mine data was obtained from the Queensland Spatial Catalogue (QSpatial)(2020), for the purpose of identifying the locations, mining methods, and operational status. Coal mines were included in the study if they were an open-pit mining operation between the years 2010 – 2020, located within the boundaries of the study area.

Identifying a coal pit

To identify the coal pit for each coal mine, Google Earth pro (version 7.3.6.10201) (2025), was utilised to obtain historical satellite imagery of each mine site. Using the historical imagery view function in Google Earth pro, the timeline was reversed to obtained satellite image of the coal mines for each year of the study period. Satellite images of the coal mines were downloaded through Google Earth pro at the maximum resolution (8134x8192), and were only obtained, if the image was considered clear and without obstructions from clouds or other weather elements.  

Historical imagery obtained for each mine site were loaded onto the basemap in QGIS as a raster layer, and each layer were visually checked to ensure that the anchoring points/features aligned with the satellite image. To ensure that each layer are aligned with the least minimal error, the anchoring points/ features were based on four coordinates spaced around each mine site. Additional data was loaded onto the basemap as separate layers, with coal mine locations loaded as a point layer and specific coal mine pits created as a polygon layer.  Manual visualisation of each coal mine was required to identify the location of the coal pits and the boundaries of the coal mines for each of the studied years. The boundary of the coal pit was determined through visualisation of each mining site. The boundary of the coal pit was visually marked at the point where the highwall or specifically where the tallest benches and berm meet with the roads used for hauling trucks and machineries.

Upon visual inspection of each coal mines site, it was determined that several mine sites could have been coal pits. From this, it was determined which coal mines had more than one coal pit, if visual inspection of the site clearly showed mining activities not limited to one specific area of the total coal mine lease area. Any mine site with scattered mining activities throughout their mining boundaries is visually inspected with each coal pit recorded as a standalone coal pit with different identification numbers assigned.

Spatial analysis and statistical software 

The generation of spatial information and visualisation of spatial data for this study was carried out using a geographic information system, QGIS (version 3.44.1). Mapping and layering of spatial data were carried out using the QGIS software.

 To measure the distance between the coal pits and the surrounding suburbs and locality, the vector analysis tool was utilised in QGIS. The vector analysis parameters were set with the Fitzroy SSC as the source point layers and the location of each coal pit set as the destination hubs layers, with distance measured in kilometres. Distance data for each mine site and the year were then collated.

Asthma hospitalisation data

Asthma hospitalisation data will be provided by Queensland Health and utilised upon ethical approval. Hospitalisation data not yet be provided in this report, due to ethical approval restrictions.