Whitehaven boosts coal production 35%

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gunnedah basin coal miner Whitehaven Coal produced 19.7-million tonnes of coal in the 2016 financial year ended June 30, which is a 35% increase on the previous corresponding period.

Whitehaven, which owns four opencut mines and one large underground mine in New South Wales, delivered in its guidance range of 19.5-million tonnes to 20.1-million tonnes.

The ASX-listed miner sold 20.1-million tonnes of coal in the financial year, which was railed from the Gunnedah basin to the Port of Newcastle before being shipped to customers mostly in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and India.

The coal sales increased by 44% year-on-year and comprised 16% metallurgical coal and 84% thermal coal. Whitehaven reported on Friday that the proportion of metallurgical coal sales was expected to increase progressively over the next four years as the high-quality Maules Creek semi-soft coking coal continued to gain market acceptance and term-based contracts were concluded.

For the June quarter, Whitehaven produced 5.13-million tonnes of coal, which was an 8% improvement on the comparable period in 2015 and sold 5.19-million tonnes, which was a 22% year-on-year improvement.

The miner achieved an average price of $63.20/t in the June quarter from sales of all metallurgical coal products. Whitehaven stated that pricing in the September quarter was expected to be higher in the $67/t-to-$72/t range, following an increase in benchmark prices.

An average price of $51.94/t was achieved for thermal coal sales in the quarter.

The group has a long-stated goal of increasing its production to 23-million tonnes a year by 2018.