Total Australian thermal coal production reached 16.1 million tonnes compared to the 14.8Mt achieved in the first quarter of 2010.
This increase was achieved as mining started at Xstrata’s Mangoola (Anvil Hill) open cut mine in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales in February.
Xstrata said this led to a 10% increase in Australian thermal coal production alone, while it also lifted semi-soft coking coal output.
Targeting 10.5Mtpa run of mine at full production, Xstrata is also seeking state government approval to modify aspects of the mine layout which will increase the total mining area.
Mangoola’s production was well timed considering that Xstrata’s Rolleston mine in Queensland was directly impacted by the severe wet season, while its 110km rail link to the Blackwater line was only restored by the second week of March.
The company’s Blakefield South longwall mine was also suspended after an underground fire early this year, and its Ulan longwall operation was set back by significant water seepage underground after torrential rainfall in February.
ILN understands that efforts were underway to restart production at the Ulan just before Easter.
However, there were falls in Australian metallurgical coal production.
Coking coal production slipped 23% year-on-year to 1.7Mt in the March quarter while semi-soft coking coal output fell 17% to 1.5Mt by the same comparison.
Commenting on the year-on-year declines in metallurgical coal production, Xstrata said they were due to the timing of longwall moves at the Oaky No.1 mine in Queensland and at the Tahmoor mine in NSW.
Total group-wide thermal coal production was 16.1Mt in the recent quarter, up 9% year-on-year.
The South African production of this commodity was slightly lower at 4.1Mt, while Xstrata’s output in South America was up a little year-on-year at 2.6Mt.
Total coal production for the Swiss mining giant was 19.3Mt in the March quarter, up 0.5Mt from the corresponding period of 2010.
Xstrata’s average received coking coal price was $236.5/t free-on-board, while the average for its Australian thermal coal was $97.3/t FOB.
