The Integra open cut and longwall mining operation in New South Wales produced 205,000 tonnes of product coal in the recent quarter including 124,000t of metallurgical coal and the rest as thermal coal.

Integra’s total product coal output consequently fell 29.6% from the December quarter.

“Metallurgical coal output was negatively impacted by geological failure issues throughout the quarter,” Vale said in a statement.

“Open cut mining operations were restricted by above average seasonal rainfall in New South Wales.”

Over to Queensland’s Bowen Basin, Vale’s Carborough Downs longwall mine produced 325,000 tonnes of metallurgical coal in the March quarter.

While this result was a 40.6% improvement year-on-year, it was also a 37% fall from the previous quarter.

“The performance was a consequence of poor geological conditions during most of the quarter in the section where the longwall mining was taking place,” Vale said.

Such a start to 2012 means that Carborough Downs is likely to fall short of its 4.8Mt per annum run of mine nameplate capacity for another year.

Carborough Downs is yet to reach this level since longwall mining kicked off in 2009.

According to annual longwall statistics from Coal Services, it will need to surpass a total of 2.72Mt ROM this calendar year to beat its production of 2011.