Chain Valley is located in the Newcastle coalfield on the southern shore of Lake Macquarie, around 100 kilometres north of Sydney. The mine is immediately adjacent to Delta Electricity's Vales Point power station, one of Chain Valley's major customers.

Mining commenced in 1961, and the mine currently produces around 700,000 saleable tonnes (770,000 tons) of thermal coal, a substantial proportion of which is sold to Vales Point.

The underground bord-and-pillar operation uses continuous miners to extract coal. The raw coal is screened, crushed and sized to contract specification for Vales Point power station and other export and domestic customers. Coal is trucked to domestic customers and also to the Port of Newcastle for export.

Mine leases cover an area of 2100 hectares, with access to two mineable seams containing 18 million tonnes (19.8 tons) of recoverable coal.

In October 2006 Peabody acquired 100 percent of Lake Coal, which owns 80 percent of the Wallarah Coal Joint Venture, the owner of the Chain Valley mine. The remaining 20 percent of the joint venture is held by a wholly owned subsidiary of Sojitz Corporation.

Chain Valley export thermal coal specifications